


Defective

by xMyrrhx



Category: James Bond (Craig movies)
Genre: Absolutely not canon compliant, Alpha James Bond, Alpha/Beta/Omega Dynamics, Do Not Include in Read-Alongs or related activities, Do Not Podfic, Do Not Translate, Infertility, M/M, Omega Q, Slow Burn, chapters tend to be on the short side sorry for that, somewhat ignores Spectre and flails about with Skyfall stuff
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-01-04
Updated: 2018-10-04
Packaged: 2019-02-28 12:25:38
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 40
Words: 35,039
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13271427
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/xMyrrhx/pseuds/xMyrrhx
Summary: One of the biggest mysteries of MI6 is the one known as Q. Everyone's pretty certain he's not an Alpha. They aren't totally convinced he could be a Beta and while he does smell mostly like an Omega his scent still isn't right....Q is indeed an Omega, though the only one's who really know that are Medical, himself and M - Q's personnel file is buried under so many protections that not just anyone can see it.He is indeed an Omega, but there's a reason it's not so obvious...





	1. Chapter 1

It was a common thought around the grounds of MI6 that their Quartermaster – known simply as Q – was one of the biggest mysteries in terms of staff. His file was under such thick protection that it was very likely that aside from M (the former and the current) and himself, no one else had seen the contents. Or at least, no one had seen the full contents. 

Most of the agents were orphans and most of the regular staff had families they went home to every night, who were none the wiser as to where they worked. Or at least, they just merely thought they had a cushy desk job. 

It was a comfortable mix of folks – Alphas, Betas, Omegas – and all in all MI6 functioned rather well. 

The current Quartermaster everyone had vaguely remembered as the former protégé of the former Q. Back then the young man had been quiet and rather withdrawn, despite having the designation of R. He hadn’t come into his own as the snarky, sassy and brilliant genius until he’d taken up the reins. 

No one could really pinpoint when he’d been brought into the fold of MI6. It really seemed like he was suddenly there as a blink-and-you-miss-him waif and then just as suddenly he was Q. Suddenly here was this young man full of sarcastic wit, a quick temper if anyone slighted him in just the wrong way (such as making tea wrong or being a certain double-o agent who never properly returned equipment). 

But it wasn’t all of this that confused everyone.

Alphas, Betas and Omegas had particular scents to help identify them, as well as corresponding symbols on their inner left wrists that appeared at birth and were there for their whole life. 

Q kept himself rather covered up – and they wondered what grandfather he’d stolen all those awful jumpers from – and so no one had seen his symbol.

His scent was rather peculiar as well. He certainly wasn’t an Alpha – there was no tang of sandalwood or undertones of musk coming from him. 

They weren’t sure if he was a Beta – Beta’s tended to smell like freshly washed linens and lavender. He didn’t smell at all like the former and they weren’t sure about the latter.

The closest thing they could pinpoint his scent to was that of an Omega – a light citrusy smell. Except his scent wasn’t quite the usual pure citrus. There was something bitter underneath though no one could pin-point exactly what. 

MI6 allowed suppressants if one wanted them, but those never did anything to one’s scent, except perhaps dull it just the tiniest bit. 

There wasn’t any shame in what you were and certainly society had gotten a lot better in terms of job equality and just general equality for the different roles (long gone were the days where Omegas were just kept as pretty house-wives to make lots of pups with). 

To those stuck in the (rather) old ways, it was probably strange (and offensive) to have an Omega (if he even was one) in charge. For that matter, an Omega of such high importance (the Quartermaster was widely regarded as almost at the top of the chain as M). 

Q baffled everyone (except M because M knew) at MI6. 

-

If there was one person out of the entirety of MI6 that frustrated Q the most, it was one particular double-o agent by the name of James Bond, code name 007. 

While the Quartermaster understood that agents in the field would be prone to losing equipment and/or breaking it in the process of missions, it seemed that 007 was determined to just lose everything. Or break it into a million pieces.

He also had the most ridiculous things happen – no one was entirely sure they believed that komodo dragon story considering how farfetched it was – and Q had just about cried at the fate of the car that was supposed to have gone to 009. 

It seemed to him that 007 just enjoyed tormenting him and truly it was only during the times he was having to assist said agent in the field that the Q-branch minions got to see the wit and snark of their leader come out in full force.

No other agent seemed to irk Q as much as James Bond did. 

Bond seemed to take fun in tormenting the Quartermaster and when he wasn’t making up ridiculous tales to explain how something was either lost or broken, he was shamelessly flirting with the other. 

There were a few bets going around MI6 on how long it would take for either Q to agree to a date or for Bond to wind up with either no gadgets or something ridiculous for a mission (like a stuffed animal or an ordinary pencil) as revenge for bothering the Quartermaster so frequently. 

While normally (although society was gradually changing for the better) Alphas only paired with Omegas, Bond seemed to willingly flirt (and sleep with) any class. Certainly, he did while on his missions. 

So far, Q wasn’t rising to the bait of the flirting and as of yet, Bond hadn’t been on the receiving end of revenge from the Quartermaster. 

-

James Bond had been surprised in himself for getting so interested in the current Quartermaster. The younger male wasn’t much his type but there was some kind of pull that had his Alpha instincts on edge. 

He couldn’t help but flirt and rile up the other, taking odd pleasure in driving Q up a wall with his mission antics. 

The agent was determined to one way or another find out about the mysterious waif that ruled Q-Branch with an iron fist.


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Migraines and Quartermaster's do not mix and migraines are especially not welcome when particular agents are doing their usual post-mission pestering. Bond does find out something in the process, however...

If there was one thing that everyone agreed on about their Quartermaster, it was that he was pretty much married to his work. The lucky few who had been in his office had come out shaking their heads in something like exasperation – apparently Q had somehow gotten permission (or maybe he hadn’t) to make his office in Q-branch big enough to house a small bathroom (with shower) and a little nook where a nesting bed was. 

The nook was however not visible unless Q pressed a button so mostly people would shake their heads over the small bathroom – a good indication that when necessary (or not) Q would spend far too much time at MI6. 

He did go home to his own flat on occasion – he had cats to feed after all and while they had food and water dispensers, they did need refilling periodically. There were also the times that M would order him home for a day or two just to get him to stop working so much overtime. 

Q never got sick and no one had ever known the man to take a vacation (just because he was Quartermaster didn’t mean he wasn’t entitled to such things). 

There was also the designated and mandatory leave for any Omega in heat and if they had a partner, the partner was given leave as well to help them out. 

Most suspected Q of being an Omega but either he was on some rather good suppressants or he wasn’t an Omega, as he never took heat leave.

He was a mystery.

-

If there was one thing about James Bond, it was that he had a rather strong stubborn streak. If he wanted something, he tended to get it. 

Right now, he really wanted to find out more about Q. He wanted to find out just what about the Quartermaster made Q-branch act like the slender young man was the best thing since sliced bread.  
Quartermaster’s before had commanded Q-branch quite well, but there was no denying that there was something else about this one. 

The Alpha wasn’t entirely sure why he was so strongly drawn to the other male – certainly he hadn’t felt this pull towards anyone since Vesper – and James Bond did not like it when he didn’t know something. 

-

Q let out a deep sigh when the current bane of his existence – one 007 agent – strolled into Q-branch with the usual Alpha swagger and over-confidence. He listened to his minions twittering and refused to turn away from his workstation as the spy approached, setting down the unfortunate remains of his latest equipment.

“I specifically told you that I wanted these back in one piece?” Q hissed through his teeth. He’d been dealing with a rather annoying headache all day that painkillers didn’t seem to be touching and the last thing he wanted to deal with was Bond. “All I see here is a gun with a dent in it and a melted hunk of metal that I assume was once an earpiece?!” 

Bond cocked an eyebrow, picking up on the fact that perhaps Q wasn’t in the best of sorts at the moment. 

“I at least brought them back this time though, right?” the Alpha asked with a grin. 

The look he got in response was worth the extra ribbing. He’d never gotten a look that venomous before from the Quartermaster!

“I don’t have the time to deal with your ridiculous superiority complex right now,” Q growled, taking off his glasses and pinching the bridge of his nose – a classic sign that he was battling a headache. “Go find someone else to bother – outside of Q-branch!” he was quick to add as Bond got a rather Cheshire-cat like grin on his face.

“You don’t like my presence, Quartermaster?” the Alpha teased. 

Q wasn’t paying attention to him now, more interested in rubbing his temples in a continued effort to get rid of the headache. 

The grin on Bond’s face faded just the slightest bit at the sight of something making an appearance.

Q’s sleeves had pulled back from his wrists just the tiniest bit – enough that Bond got the glimpse of a familiar symbol before Q was turning away from him, clearly done with the conversation.

“R, take over for a while!” Q snapped to the Beta who immediately stepped up to the central workstation. 

The slight young man made a quick beeline for his office once the second-in-command was in place.

“Let’s get your tech all checked in double –” R started before realizing that said agent had pulled a disappearing act.

-

Q was so into the misery of his migraine that while he did dim the lights and make the windows black out in his office, he didn’t much seem to notice the double-o agent that had followed him.  
Well, he didn’t notice until he’d pressed the button to reveal the nook that held his rather cozy nest. 

To his slight amusement, Bond did look rather confused at the sight of the pile of rather plush pillows and fluffy blankets. 

Nests were generally something an Omega did for comfort. 

The Quartermaster scowled at the intruder as a sharp spike of pain went through his brain, vision already teeming on the edges with light flashes indicating the severity of the migraine. He could see the agent piecing together something and after setting his glasses on his desk, Q flopped into the nest, growling to keep the other from getting any closer. 

“Breathe a word of this double-o-seven and your next mission you’ll be outfitted with a toothpick and nothing else.” 

Bond said nothing as he left the office as quietly as he’d entered, the cogs in his brain working to process what he’d just found out.

He hadn’t gotten a full-on look at Q’s wrist (and something had seemed rather off about what he had managed to spot), but the nest at least gave a rather strong indication.

The Quartermaster was an Omega?


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Bond attempts to do some digging and starts to lurk around Q-branch.
> 
> Q-branch is starting a betting pool...

James Bond didn’t like only having partial information. He liked to not be in the dark when it came to knowing about someone and the fact that he seemed to only partially know the Quartermaster of MI6 was an annoying itch that needed to be scratched.

He didn’t get far with attempting to hack into the personnel files – hacking was never his strongest skill and it was clear that Q had been the one to put up the security measures to prevent exactly what he was doing. There was no way he was going to get past the defensive measures (and he was pretty sure that Q had set some kind of alert when this sort of thing was done so he wasn’t all that surprised when M fussed at him for the hacking attempt). 

He wondered why the Quartermaster was so intent on hiding his status. It wasn’t a bad thing to be an Omega in MI6 – they didn’t have to worry about being harassed as there were quite a number of protective rules and procedures to make sure everyone in any designation was treated properly and with respect. 

He was 95% sure that the Quartermaster was an Omega – his odd scent was the closest to that and what little he’d seen of the mark on Q’s wrist seemed like it was the Omega symbol.

But something had seemed off about it and unfortunately, he hadn’t gotten a good enough look to see just why he had the hunch that it was wrong.

He would just have to figure out other ways to sort out the mystery that was the Quartermaster.

-

Aside from when he became wrapped up in his own little world of projects, or when he was getting an agent out of trouble, Q was quite observant. 

Therefore, it did not escape his attention that one particularly annoying double-o agent/Alpha was spending quite a bit more time in Q-branch than necessary. 

Oddly enough, he wasn’t causing any trouble (yet) and by the third day the minions had just started to accept that Bond was there just because and carried on their business as usual.

It didn’t escape their attention either that Bond seemed to lurk around Q-branch for one particular reason, and that was observing the Quartermaster. 

Q-branch had a love of betting pools and it wasn’t uncommon to see graphs and statistics being stuck around the walls and cubicles whenever a big sports event was going on. There was also the occasional silly betting for reality tv shows (who was going to end up with who, who was going to get voted off the island first...) and so it came as no surprise when the minions began to put together a (secret) betting pool.

A betting pool regarding their Quartermaster and one 007. 

Most of the minions went for the bet that Q would eventually get tired of Bond lurking around and get angry enough to chase him off. 

Then there was R and a couple others in Q-branch who thought that Bond was perhaps interested in their Quartermaster. Interested in pursuing him – though this of course sparked the worry that their beloved Quartermaster was going to be treated how Bond treated all his marks – and they crossed their fingers hoping that this wouldn’t end up being the case.

There weren’t any rules about inter-office dating, as long as it didn’t interfere with work. The only exception was for an agent to be pulled to a non-field position once they had a bonded mate. This was one reason the double-o’s tended to not take mates; they didn’t want to have to stop doing what they did.

It was weird if Bond was intent on pursuing someone seriously – certainly after the Vesper fiasco – especially since he seemed dead set on never retiring (though he was approaching the mandatory retirement age). 

The betting pool was conveniently kept out of sight of Q – they were pretty sure he wouldn’t be amused to be the subject of one of them – and only discussed (in quiet tones) when the Quartermaster was elsewhere. 

Whatever the result would be, Q-branch just hoped their Quartermaster would be happy.


	4. Chapter 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A bad cold is going around MI6 (dubbed the MI6 Plague) and not even Q-branch is safe...

It was a cold running rampant through MI6 of all things, that would bring Bond just a little bit closer to figuring out more about his Quartermaster and why he was feeling so interested in the younger man. 

Q-branch, for all of their hiding away in the tunnels below everyone else, was apparently not immune to falling victim to the cold wrecking small havoc around the place. Medical was up in arms about the thing, constantly handing out masks to try and curb the spreading as well as pestering everyone to wash their hands frequently and have more vitamin c. They especially badgered Q-branch about not taking so much overtime and actually going outside for once and getting more fresh air.

It was a particularly annoying form of cold that settled more in the chest instead of the head. Once one minion caught it then it was just a matter of time before the entirety of the branch was sharing in the misery.

It was also the first time in recent memory – aside from when he had a migraine – that Q-branch could recall their fearless leader actually getting sick.

But there he was, soon coughing and sneezing just like the rest of them from behind his central work station. He’d even fallen victim to wearing one of those rather plain and dull masks from medical (Q-branch minions weren’t about to take this sitting down and so most had found ways to decorate their masks to at least bring some brightness to what was otherwise a rather dreary time).

A few coughs had his minions wincing in either sympathy or worry – perhaps a brave soul would recommend their Quartermaster go visit medical? 

None of them were feeling all that brave (most of them were under the weather quite a bit themselves, after all) and besides, Q was a perfectly logical human who could probably come to the conclusion of when to see medical on his own.

Right?

-

When James Bond strolled into Q-branch, it looked like he was the picture of health – apparently, he was immune to the ‘MI6 Plague’ as it was jokingly being referred to as – and the Alpha was full of his usual swaggering confidence. 

He raised an eyebrow at all of the minions and their decorated medical masks, mentally shaking his head at how strange they could be sometimes. 

For once he did have a purpose to be here – he was being sent out on a mission (he was a bit disappointed that it was just a data recovery mission and nothing more exciting) and Q-branch was to supply him with the usual kit. 

He did note that the branch smelled heavily of disinfectant with a slight tinge of illness and he made a slightly disgruntled noise as he peered around, not seeing Q among the minions or at his central work station.

“Looking for the Quartermaster?” R called over from his desk, the even-tempered Beta also sporting a decorated mask, though he didn’t sound all that ill. “He just squirreled himself away to his office and probably will be there all night – he was just gifted a rather impressive stack of reports to go through for the yearly audit. You came here for your kit, right? If you give me a moment, I’ll go grab it for you.” 

By the time R returned with the kit, he couldn’t really be surprised to see that the famous 007 was nowhere to be found.

-

It was no surprise of course that Bond was satisfying his need to scratch a curious itch and bother his Quartermaster. Just because the Quartermaster had a big important thing for audits to work on didn’t mean that he was going to be lucky enough to be undisturbed by one curious Alpha Double-O agent.

That and perhaps the Quartermaster’s office would be a nice break from the dreadful combination of disinfectant and sick. 

Pushing open the door and letting it close behind him as he slipped into the darkness, Bond frowned at what greeted him. 

The office wasn’t lit and even the computer was off, making it such that Bond took a couple minutes to adjust enough to the darkness to see faintly. 

The partition that hid Q’s nest was open and it was easy to see that Q had done none of the paperwork piled on his desk – instead he’d simply retreated to his office under an excuse just so he could comfort-nest.

The young man was curled up in his nest and the room reeked of illness to the intruding agent. He could hear Q’s raspy sounding breaths – punctuated with the occasional cough (which sounded rather wet and awful). 

He made his way carefully in the dark and tried to make out Q’s condition in the shadows. He could see that the other had removed his cardigan of the day and had rolled up the sleeves of the button-up worn beneath (though it was too dark and Q was laying on the arm that held his designation mark, so Bond couldn't get a clear look at it again), a few buttons around the collar undone as well, perhaps in an effort to breathe easier. 

Q wasn’t wearing a medical mask – the thing was lying next to the nest, Q clearly seeing no need to try and sleep with it on in his own space – and Q’s glasses were off as well. 

The dim lighting did not help Bond as the Alpha carefully made his way to the nest – it was good to approach a nest with caution; sometimes Omegas could get rather territorial over them, especially if they were un-mated. 

It ticked a bit of worry deep inside his Alpha heart when approaching the nest didn’t get him any sort of warning growl from the Quartermaster. In fact, Q didn’t seem to be aware of him approaching and the smell of sickness was getting stronger. 

Bond wondered if he should summon medical.


	5. Chapter 5

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Medical and a frustrated Bond...

It was rather unsettling to rouse to some semblance of consciousness and not feel the comfort of his nest. Everything smelled sterile and it was far too quiet and impersonal for Q’s liking. His body felt like there was a heavy stone sitting on his chest and breathing was strained and difficult. Some part of his brain acknowledged that there was something on his face supplying extra oxygen and there was the annoying itch of an IV needle taped in place in the back of one hand. 

He was too tired however to open his eyes – and considering he wasn’t wearing his glasses, it wasn’t like he would be able to see anything clearly. 

What had happened? The last thing he remembered was curling up in his office-nest, planning to just take a nap and try and sleep away the discomfort of the cold plaguing him, so that he could get back to work.

His weary brain supplied that this had clearly failed, and that he was probably in medical now. 

Q was too tired to try and fight to more awareness, allowing the darkness of sleep to creep back in and take hold, plunging him away into dreams.

-

Bond had caused a bit of a commotion when he’d emerged from Q’s office with a bundled up, unconscious and rather sick Quartermaster in his arms. The minions had just stared in disbelief and worry as their fearless leader was carried off to medical. Bond hadn’t said a word to them but clearly that meant that R was in charge and the Beta snapped to attention after a moment of shock, getting the rest of Q-branch back to work.

Medical was even more surprised to see that not only was Bond willingly coming into their area, but that the Quartermaster – who was just as bad as the double-o’s when it came to visiting – was with him and seemingly harmless (for once). 

Bond hovered nearby, the Alpha seeming a bit more protective than usual of the obviously-ill Quartermaster. 

By the time medical was finished, Q was hooked up to a few machines to monitor his vitals, an IV full of fluids and medicine, and being given supplementary oxygen via an obnoxious plastic facemask.

The Alpha agent still didn’t like that there was still a scent of illness around the younger male and Bond’s own agitated state was making medical (made up of Betas and a couple Omegas) nervous. 

“Er, it was good of you to have brought him here,” the lead doctor spoke up after a few nervous seconds. “He’s gone and nearly done himself in with pneumonia. It’ll be about two weeks before he’s remotely close to being cleared to go back to work.” 

Not that Q would actually listen to those orders, once he was feeling well enough, more than likely. 

Bond frowned at the seriousness of Q’s condition and had to wonder just how long the other had been ill with the cold for it to have progressed to something so severe.

“I’ll notify M of course,” the doctor continued hurriedly, mistaking the Alpha’s silence and frown as signs of displeasure. He glanced between the agent and the out-cold Q. “He’s probably going to sleep for a while...” 

The agent just nodded and cast one glance at Q before striding from the medical wing. He’d had a look of mostly-indifference on his face, but Bond’s brain was whirring with thoughts. 

Why did it distress him so much to see the Quartermaster in this condition? It was a feeling stronger than just a casual worry for one’s friend or co-worker. 

Growling softly in frustration, James Bond strode off to the gym to work out some of the strange turmoil inside of him.


	6. Chapter 6

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Q fails at arguing his way out of Medical. Then he finds himself under the care of one 007 for the remainder of his illness...

Q spent three days in a mostly-unconscious state as Medical did their best to chase the worst of the pneumonia from his lungs. He was too sick those days to think much of what was going on in Q-branch, but that all changed when he rose to consciousness on the fourth day. 

-

The Quartermaster of MI6 was not making a good case to return to work as he coughed and wheezed his way through his complaints about being away from Q-branch for more than a day. 

His protests were more amusing than actually threatening at this point, considering how weak and ill he still was. M was standing there anyway – coming to see how the under-the-weather Quartermaster was doing – and Medical felt rather reassured that M’s presence would keep the Quartermaster from actually wrecking their bank accounts.

Well, mostly reassured. There was still a chance that Q would do something anyway considering how much he hated Medical. 

“You have pneumonia,” the lead doctor stated looking rather not amused that the currently rather ill patient was trying to argue his way out after only being there for what was now four days – hardly enough time to be well enough to return to work. “You’re on medical leave for two weeks – three if you attempt to leave against doctor’s advice.” 

“There aren’t any pressing missions for you to be present for,” M stated, crossing his arms over his chest and regarding the Quartermaster with a slightly exasperated look. “And even if there was, R is more than capable of taking up the reins.”

“But I have projects and – “ 

“But nothing!” M snapped. “You’re on mandatory medical leave for the next two weeks and possibly more if you continue to jeopardize your health. You are Quartermaster of MI6 and we need to have you in top health. You are more a hinderance than help in your current condition.” 

Q attempted to protest further, his stubbornness and need to constantly prove himself overriding common sense. He could barely get words out before he was caught up in a coughing fit, doubled over as the doctor rolled her eyes. 

As the rather disgruntled young man slumped back on the bed, he offered little protest as nasal cannulas attached with tubing to an oxygen tank were settled into place – his oxygen stats had dropped lower than the doctor wanted to see with that coughing fit. Since Q was awake the oxygen mask had been removed and this way he could still speak, if needed.

“No one here is the enemy, Quartermaster,” M continued with a shake of his head, clearly exasperated. Who would have thought that someone other than the double-O agents was this bad in Medical? “See to it that he rests and recovers,” he said to the doctor. “That means no one needs to be sneaking him in any technology. I want him well, not working.” 

Q grumbled something under his breath, punctuated with more coughing, before settling into a rather uneasy sleep, having worn himself out. 

-

James Bond didn’t visit the Quartermaster until he was being released from Medical – with very strict orders to go home and stay home until Medical called him back to make sure he was truly fit again to take back up as the resident Quartermaster. 

To ensure that this was carried out, Q very unhappily found out that they’d assigned him someone to actually stay with him at his flat and make sure he was taking care of himself. 

He was even more unhappy to find out that they’d assigned him 007 as a caretaker – apparently Bond was on some downtime right now and with no pressing missions to send him on, they’d decided the Alpha was fitting as a caretaker. 

“Usually we would assign a Beta to be the caretaker for someone like yourself, but Bond actually insisted on this himself and well, with your condition I don’t foresee being around an Alpha as an issue for you,” the doctor stated as Q was checked out. 

Bond had the decency to look like he wasn’t interested in any of this, though Q wouldn’t put it past the agent to have picked up on the doctor’s phrasing.

It had probably only been a matter of time really, before someone else learned about him. Perhaps though Bond would be nice and say nothing on the matter. 

-

James Bond had indeed picked up on the odd phrasing from the doctor, though he just filed it away for later. He could see that Q seemed on edge (and at the same time a little relieved?) at the words and wondered. The agent was certain that ‘condition’ had nothing to do with the pneumonia and everything to do with the thing he’d been wondering about for some time now. 

The doctor’s words had certainly given his theory that the Quartermaster was an Omega more weight. He’d been pleased that his insistency to care for the younger man hadn’t fallen on deaf ears, though it had raised some eyebrows. 

The Alpha planned to take this time to get to know the young man known as Q better, and perhaps finally lay some questions to rest.


	7. Chapter 7

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Q does not make a good patient. James Bond attempts to find out more. The cats are indifferent.

Q was not thrilled to be sharing his flat for a couple of weeks with more than his two adorable cats.

James Bond had forgotten that Q was the owner of two felines. 

The cats in question were both white fluffballs, siblings. One had hazel colored eyes while the others were bright green. 

Currently both were having a staring contest with the aforementioned double-o agent, apparently attempting to judge if he was a worthy enough human to be in the flat with them. 

Bond wasn’t really thrilled with having a stare down with two cats that rather resembled marshmallows. 

Q ignored all three – though he did check to make sure his adorable fluffballs had full food and water dishes – coughing every once in a while, as he set about making some tea. He was more than happy to let Bond be occupied with something other than himself for a little while.

It was hard to say who lost interest first in the staring competition, but the cats looked rather haughty as they strolled off to go find the best place to nap – leaving James Bond warily unsure if he had passed whatever inspection the two balls of fur had been conducting. 

“Do they do that to everyone?” the Alpha asked as he watched Q, leaning against the kitchen island. 

“If you aren’t covered in scratches then they’ve deemed you worthy,” the ill Quartermaster replied, taking his tea (pointedly not offering any to Bond because he didn’t feel like being a nice host) and going into the living room to join the two aforementioned cats on the sofa. “They attempt to chase out anyone they don’t like.” 

Attack cats then. How lovely.

-  
The atmosphere in Q’s home was tense, to say the least. Q seemed rather disgruntled at having the double-o agent staying with him and clearly was not above giving him the silent treatment. The Alpha’s presence was clearly disrupting whatever sense of security the home normally gave to Q and the latter seemed to be rather sullenly stubborn in staying on the couch instead of resting in bed.

It was as if he couldn’t trust the agent in his home (and he probably couldn’t) enough to be out of sight of the other.

“I get that you don’t like me being here,” James said finally, if just to break the tense silence. “But if you would just take care of yourself we wouldn’t be in this mess in the first place.” 

Q leveled him with a rather sharp glare at this and Bond half expected the other to start growling. 

“I’m not here to be the enemy, Q,” the agent continued. “I’m here under orders to look after you, if you’ve forgotten.” 

“I would have been fine with a normal caretaker,” the younger male snapped finally. “I don’t know why you insisted on this. Were you so anxious for a mission that you were happy to jump at the first opportunity to drive me up a wall?!” 

The Alpha didn’t reply, and Q found himself being lifted from the couch and carried off in the direction of the short hallway that led to his bedroom. It was the only bedroom in the flat (which was oddly spacious for a single occupant) and a coughing/wheezing fit kept him from being able to struggle much as he was settled down and tucked in. 

“Sleep,” Bond ordered quietly, and Q had to refrain from making a noise of enjoyment as the other stroked his hair a few times. His glasses were plucked from his face and set on the bedside table. “I’ll wake you for food and medicine later.” 

The Quartermaster wanted to argue, but his body clearly thought that getting some sleep in his bed was a perfect idea. His eyes were closing, and sleep carried him away before he could offer a single protest. 

-

Bond was a curious Alpha. It didn’t take him long after Q had fallen asleep for him to start poking about the flat, looking for any information on what designation his Quartermaster actually was. 

The white puffballs known as cats didn’t so much as twitch an ear as James roamed around the living area, peering at the books on shelves and bits of gadgetry placed haphazardly about. Clearly, he wasn’t a threat and they didn’t seem to care that he was poking his nose into things. 

It wasn’t any surprise that Q didn’t have anything sitting out in the open that would give any clues. The young man was rather secretive, though James didn’t quite get why it was such a big deal if anyone knew what Q was. Certainly, he’d gained everyone’s respect in MI6 and laws were much better than they had been years ago. 

If Q was an Omega, it wasn’t something that needed to be kept hidden away under lock and key. 

Huffing to himself, the Alpha settled on the couch – the cats giving him sleepy looks of disgruntlement but doing nothing else – and stared at the opposite wall. 

He wondered if Q would answer if he asked him about it.

The agent still didn’t understand why he was so completely wrapped up in finding out more about his Quartermaster.


	8. Chapter 8

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Bond finds out the truth.

The cats and James Bond had settled into somewhat of a truce. Q thought that the fluff-balls had completely mutinied against him – as they were more than happy to give attention to the agent whilst Q was busy coughing up his lungs and being rather miserable. The cats seemed to be especially fond of James Bond because he dolled out food and treats – the quickest way to the furry beast’s hearts was through their stomachs, apparently. 

Q’s illness was taking its time in resolving, despite the good medications he’d been prescribed and the rather doting Alpha agent who was taking up temporary residence in his flat. 

The Quartermaster was still not thrilled with having the other in his home and continued to be rather frosty to Bond, despite how well the other was caring for him. He made sure that Q had regular meals, took his medicine, and got plenty of rest. 

It was rather unnerving to the younger male how much he was starting to enjoy having an Alpha doting on him like this. It was something he had certainly never expected, considering that his condition was enough to send anyone interested running for the hills once they found out. 

Either James Bond was aware of his condition and didn’t care, or he somehow hadn’t noticed yet. Q was betting the other was aware (or at least becoming aware) and was just being tactful in not saying anything. 

-

James Bond had learned the truth about the pneumonia-stricken Quartermaster the second night at Q’s flat. 

The younger male had been sleeping fitfully that night and had quickly kicked off all the covers on his body whilst he’d been slumbering. He’d only fallen asleep in a pair of flannel pajama pants, leaving the rest of his body exposed. 

James had been sleeping out on the couch with the cats to keep him company and as an agent, he slept rather lightly. 

It had been the weak coughing that had woken him and sent him going to the Quartermaster’s room, carefully opening the door to peer in to see how the other was fairing. 

The curtains had been left away from the window that night and pale shafts of moonlight had Q’s ill body highlighted in a faint silvery-white glow. 

Q was laying on his back, arms splayed out as he unconsciously tried to cool off from the apparently too-warm blankets covering him. 

The moonlight was enough to reveal the scars that crisscrossed over Q’s stomach, neat and orderly enough that they were more than likely surgical scars rather than scars from an accident. 

The pale light of the moon was also enough for Bond to see clearly the symbol standing out on Q’s wrist – something the Quartermaster had done so well at hiding for quite some time.

It was the symbol of Omega but with two jagged marks crossing over it – they didn’t look self-inflicted or done by surgical means. The extra marks looked just as natural as the Omega symbol – as if they’d appeared on the skin like a natural tattoo or birthmark as those symbols did at birth.

James had never seen something like it before. 

Seeing that Q was in no distress he shut the door and departed as silently as he’d arrived back to the living room. 

He’d reluctantly been given the password for the WiFi in the younger male’s house and a quick scour of the internet on his laptop had him sitting back with a rather pensive expression on his face.

He could understand now why Q was so reluctant to give away any indication of what his status was. 

While protected there was certainly still stigmas and old social norms that didn’t seem to go away with time and changing laws. 

Omegas were certainly able to enjoy as much freedom as a Beta or an Alpha now and overall the prejudice had gone down. 

But then there were those of Q’s status – and now that Bond knew it he understood why the other was so reserved. 

Defectives were seen as absolute failures and although legally they couldn’t be messed with, that didn’t mean there wasn’t any discrimination against them. With Q’s brilliance, Bond was certain the Omega had been able to easily manipulate the system in order to avoid the worst of it and get to where he was now. 

The agent wondered how many others knew about Q. He assumed medical would and probably M. Perhaps Q’s family if they still existed (MI6 did love recruiting orphans after all...) and he doubted anyone in the double-O program or in Q-branch was aware. 

Q didn’t keep any alcohol around in his flat, as Bond had discovered, and right now was of course a great time to just drink.

Needless to say, that night the agent did not sleep easy, having a new understanding of why Q was so against anyone knowing about him or getting close.


	9. Chapter 9

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Q has recovered and things return to normal...sort of.

It wasn’t as if James Bond was completely unaware of what Defective meant. It used to be what amounted to a death sentence – the afflicted being tucked away in an institution as if they were a criminal for being unable to produce offspring. Laws had certainly changed over the years and now being Defective didn’t equal an instant placement into a bleak-futured institute. 

He’d heard the word Defective tossed about by worried nurses after the incident with Le Chiffre where there were concerns that the torture had left him in that state. Truthfully, he wouldn’t have cared if it had (it hadn’t, which was a miracle according to other people). Children were never something he was all that keen on and having a mate and children would mean something akin to a desk job. 

Agents used to be mated and then go in the field – until it was more readily observed the devastating impact on the mate should the agent fall in the line of duty – and the rules had changed.  


Despite being quite the ladies man and bedding more than his fair share of them, James had always been careful. Even with Tracy and then with Vesper. 

He felt a small stab of pity for Q – wondering if the Omega wanted children. It was certainly more common (for whatever reason) for Omega’s to be stricken with a Defective status. 

Bond wondered but knew it would be a rather wrong thing to ask of the Quartermaster to find out why Q was afflicted with such a thing.

-

Q was certainly quite pleased when medical cleared him to go back to work. He knew his team was good, but it still felt like leaving a bunch of unruly kids to fend for themselves whenever he had to be away from Q-branch. R was good about keeping order, thankfully, but there was still a bit of unease as the Quartermaster stepped back into his domain after two horrid weeks away. 

Well, they hadn’t been entirely horrid. He’d had his two adorable cats to keep him company and he had to admit that it had been nice to have Bond there, as awkward as it was. He’d been a bit surprised at how purely domestic the Alpha had been – making sure that there was enough easy foods for him (soup, mostly) and that he took his medications as scheduled (because knowing him he’d find some way to get distracted with a project and forget) and even made sure the cats had food and water (because for almost the entire first week Q had been just about bed-bound). 

It would definitely take a little bit of readjusting to having his flat back to just him and his two white furred companions. 

He was pretty sure that Bond had charmed the puffballs considering that there were points he wanted the cats to cuddle him and they were keener on spending time with the double-O agent. 

Jasper in particular had become almost a shadow to the agent while Pearl, Jasper’s hazel-eyed sister had decided Bond was a suitable person to bug for extra food, treats and pets. 

Spoiled rotten, those two.

It had been rather awkward, but then it had evolved into something that was rather nice (though still slightly awkward). 

His flat, which normally felt rather cold and as lonely as himself (cats aside), had felt homelier. It was like the presence of another person there regularly filled in some invisible gap that made the flat feel more comfortable instead of almost-too-big. 

Q didn’t want to really admit it, but the first night after Bond had returned to his own residence he’d had a bit of trouble falling asleep.

It was like having the agent there to look after him had added an extra level of security, somehow.

Or perhaps that was his Omega side, just responding to the caring actions of an Alpha – something Q had nearly forgotten as it wasn’t like anyone was queuing up to date him, after all. 

He would squash down any longings – he was Defective and therefore undesirable. Since he’d obtained the cursed status he had quickly learned that he was something unwanted. No reason to get his hopes up anymore. 

Besides, he was the Quartermaster of MI6. His job and duty for Queen and Country came above all else.

-

They settled back into something of a routine, following Q’s illness. Bond went back out into the field, leaving behind plenty of tech (much to Q’s displeasure and continued annoyance), dead bodies, exploded buildings and a continued streak of doing things his way, rather than being nice and obedient on following instructions.

Q however, began to notice that little trinkets from Bond’s jaunts around the world were appearing on his desk (he wasn’t sure when as he never saw Bond aside from when he returned his lack-of tech). Little statues or intricate puzzle objects. Q took each one home to his flat, a small collection amassing itself on one of his bookshelves. 

He wasn’t sure what the agent was doing.

-  
Bond wasn’t entirely sure why he had suddenly gotten the urge to start getting little things to take back to Q after each mission. He’d just started on a whim and now it seemed to have become a habit.  


He’d mentioned it idly to Eve and the secretary had just about snorted into her coffee, clearly picking up on something he wasn’t.

“It sounds like you’re trying to court our Quartermaster,” she said with a knowing little smirk. 

Was that what this was?


	10. Chapter 10

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Lunchtime discussions.

For once, Q-branch was slow enough that it wasn’t difficult to drag Q away from his work and make sure he ate lunch – more specifically, that he ate the lunch that Bond had given to a minion to give to Q. He sat at his desk, cleared of enough odds and ends to make room for take-away containers and fresh mugs of tea. 

R had pulled out his own lunch and had dragged over a chair, followed by a couple other minions who were taking lunch as well. 

Q had a faint idea that those gathered were going to interrogate him about the behavior of one James Bond. Little trinkets, sweets, tea and meals were regular occurrences – sometimes delivered by James himself and other times by one of Q’s minions. 

The leader of Q-branch poked at the takeaway boxes that had been delivered for him to eat today – it seemed Bond had gone to the little family-run Chinese-food shop down the road. Today’s menu looked to be some kind of chicken dish, vegetables, rice and fried dumplings. Bond had seemed to have picked up on Q’s love of spicy foods so more than likely the sauce coating the chicken would have a nice touch of heat to it.

“So...” R started with a grin, digging into his own lunch. “What’s it like being courted by double-O seven?” 

Q had to resist the rather childish urge to roll his eyes at his second-in-command.

“He’s not courting,” he grumbled as he dug into the chicken, pointedly not looking at the Beta. “He’s just being nice.” 

“But he’s bringing you gifts all the time!” one of the minions piped up. “And he’s an Alpha! They only do that when courting, right?” 

“Maybe back when society was stricter on behavior,” Q replied with a slightly-irritated sigh. “We’re in modern times now, you know. Less fuss about that mess. Besides, why would he want to court someone? We all know he’s too invested in serving Queen and Country. He couldn’t be a double-O anymore if he found a partner.” 

He’d seen Bond’s records of course to know that the man had mated twice with disastrous results and had come right back to requalify as a rather dangerous agent seemingly more willing to throw himself into near-certain death after each instance.

“Maybe he’s ready to retire?” the other minion suggested though they looked rather skeptical about it. While Bond was getting close to retirement age, the man was going to have to be dragged kicking and screaming into retirement, probably. Or MI6 would have to find him something almost as destructive he could do instead. 

“He’ll sooner die in the field than retire,” Q scoffed, continuing to eat his lunch. Everyone had to admit that the regular meals had done something for the young man – he didn’t seem nearly as stick-thin and was starting to branch out from his usual layered cardigan appearance. 

He’d confided before that he mostly wore that look for the extra warmth it gave him, so perhaps his healthier body was better able to regulate its own temperature now.

“It’s weird though, isn’t it?” the first minion chimed in. “He’s finding out what sorts of things you like and don’t like, Sir. Anything you don’t like he hasn’t brought in again. He even brought you things for your cats! Not to mention he volunteered to take care of you when you were sick...” 

“He’s totally courting you,” R grinned, the teasing look only getting more-so at the glare from Q he got as a response. “Even though no one knows what you are, boss. The minions still have bets going on that one. Though I guess it doesn’t matter since we are in modern times now. Alphas, Betas and Omegas don’t have to find all the cliché, stereotypical mates these days. Or any mates at all thanks to medicine.” 

“Regardless of his intentions I have no interest in having a mate,” Q snapped, reaching the end of his tether on the subject. “He’s simply being nice, end of story. Now I believe we have work to do before double-O three and five come online for their missions.” 

The two minions and R shared glances as the four began to put away the remains of lunch into the garbage bins and go back to their stations.

Clearly their teasing had hit some kind of nerve.

-

Bond sat with Eve in a corner of the MI6 cafeteria, the female Alpha having dragged him there for lunch after M had given Bond a rather thorough talk-down on all the possible worst-case scenarios of trying to form a mate-connection with the Quartermaster.

“I mean, Mallory does have a point,” Eve said between bites of salad. “You’re courting Q, of all people. It’s rather admirable but surely you know what it will entail. No more double-O status, no more missions.” 

“I’m not courting him,” James sighed, wishing he had a stiff drink to accompany his lunch. 

“You’re feeding him and bringing him gifts. That’s classic Alpha courting behavior,” Eve replied with a roll of her eyes. “I did that with my Omega and all the other mated-Alphas out there have probably done the same thing with theirs.” 

“I don’t even know what Q even is,” Bond replied, lying coming as easily to him as drawing a breath. Eve wouldn’t be able to tell anyway – hardly anyone could tell when Bond was lying. 

“You’re still courting him,” the woman replied with a slightly-exasperated look on her face. “Regardless of his status. Not that it matters these days, you know.” 

Oh, it would certainly matter if word got out that Q was a Defective Omega, but Bond wasn’t about to bring up that subject, no matter how much he (somewhat) trusted Eve. 

“You’ll have to talk to him about it eventually,” the female Alpha said as she stood up from the table they were seated at. “The ‘doing something nice’ excuse only goes so far.” 

As Eve strode off on her impossibly-thin and ridiculously dangerous stilettos, Bond was left to think about what he was doing. 

How much longer could he fool himself into thinking that he wasn’t seriously courting someone again? After Tracy and Vesper, could he stand something bad happening again? 

-

A week later, the courting behavior stopped, and Bond disappeared after his latest mission.


	11. Chapter 11

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Bond is still MIA, Q starts going back to old habits.

Everyone expected Q to be displaying signs of disappointment or confusion now that Bond had been declared once again to be MIA and the courting behavior had stopped. The Quartermaster however, was continuing on as if nothing out of the ordinary was happening. 

“People do handle grief differently, I suppose,” Tanner commented with a shrug to Eve as they watched Q calmly talking 003 through their mission (it wasn’t a very high-stakes one, so perhaps that explained why the atmosphere wasn’t horribly tense). “Though are we sure it was actually courting?” 

Eve had to roll her eyes at the suggestion of the Beta.

“It was courting,” she replied shortly with a tinge of exasperation. “Though those two idiots refused to see it.” 

-

James Bond wasn’t entirely sure why he’d gotten the whim to go AWOL following his latest mission. It had been successful, and he’d even managed to seduce (and bed) a few rather lovely ladies in the process. 

His mission had been in the Caribbean and it wasn’t horribly difficult to disappear after the mission was over. There were plenty of islands to hop around and it was nothing new to stay out of the radar of MI6.

Sure, there would be the hassle of having his flat sold off and things put in storage once again, but he never spent enough time in the place anyway to have formed a strong attachment. 

It wasn’t as if he was hard up for money and he could certainly afford to take another ‘vacation’ from MI6. Mallory would certainly chew him out for it whenever he decided to go back, but he was used to being a thorn in the side of his superiors. 

Sitting at a tropical outdoor bar dressed like a tourist, Bond let his attention drift away from his job and to the lovely bikini-clad woman making her way to the bar with a slightly predatory smirk on her face. 

-

Q had gone back to living off of tea and the occasional handful of biscuits, according to the minions who had given up on trying to get their overlord to eat a proper meal. It seemed that if it wasn’t coming from James Bond himself, then Q just ignored it. It was rather strange, but it took R literally strong-arming their boss away from his desk or mid-room station in order to get him to eat something other than biscuits. 

The minions hoped that Bond would reappear soon if only to keep their wonderful boss in good health via full meals. 

-

A month after Bond disappeared, MI6 decided it was time to sell his flat and put the Bond’s personal items into storage, for whenever he decided to pull his resurrection stunt and stroll in as if nothing had occurred and he hadn’t been off the radar for so long. 

Q was back into layers and cardigans, finding it difficult to keep his temperature up as his weight slowly crept downward now that he wasn’t eating regularly again. It didn’t help that Q-branch was in the tunnels where it tended to be cooler than the rest of MI6 anyway. 

Going back to his layers from his suits made Q appear younger and anyone who didn’t know who he was began to mistake him for just another Q-branch minion on a more regular basis. 

Q began keeping irregular hours, the only reason he ventured back to his own flat was the need to make sure his two fluffy cats were doing alright. 

It was about a month and a half after Bond’s disappearance that R had enough and took a stand, other minions helping out in forcing Q to go home for at least 48 hours to if nothing else, get some sleep.

The leader of Q-branch fought against them, though he had to admit defeat when R grinned and said that he was sure M would be happy to give Q even more forced time off – something he knew Q would absolutely loathe. 

There weren’t any pressing missions in the next 48 hours and the general evil population of the world that they kept tabs on were being rather coincidentally quiet. It was the perfect time for R to handle things for a little bit while Q went home for a proper rest. 

-

Two rather unimpressed looking balls of fur greeted Q as he stepped into his flat. After reactivating the security system and setting down his things, Q let the cats herd him to the kitchen where their food dishes resided. 

“Yes yes, hello to you both,” he muttered fondly as he dolled out their dinner, a faint smile flickering across his face though weariness quickly had it fading. “Perhaps you’ll forgive me if I say I’m here for 48 hours this time?” 

There was no reply, the cats apparently finding their dinner more important. 

Q gave them both fond pats before heading off to his bedroom, too tired to even properly undress aside from removing his glasses and setting them on the bedside table. 

The young man let his body collapse onto the bed and he was out before his head even hit the pillow.


	12. Chapter 12

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Bond returns to MI6.   
> Things are a bit tense...

When James Bond strolled into MI6 after his latest ‘vacation’, he was greeted with an eye-roll from Moneypenny, a shake of the head from Tanner and a bit of a long lecture from M. He would of course have to re-do all the qualifying tests and everything else before the man would even consider putting the other out in the field again.

There was also the matter of finding a new flat and getting his things out of storage.

The usual, in other words.

Q was there to oversee the tests again, having prepared the weapons and carrying a thin laptop to take notes on Bond’s tests for whatever data Q-branch used to assist agents. 

Bond was a little surprised to see Q’s condition. The boffin looked younger and thinner, despite the layers he wore. It was almost a throwback to when they’d first met and started working together. He wondered if something had happened.

Q was cordial – nearly frostily so – when dealing with the Alpha and Bond wondered if the Omega was simply having a bad day or if he’d done something to upset the other (though he couldn’t think of what exactly that something was). 

-

“Thank you, double-o-seven,” the Quartermaster stated once the tests were over, snapping his laptop shut. “Your results will be sent to M, now if you’d please report to Medical for your workup and Psych Evaluation. Eve or Tanner will let you know when you’ll meet with M to see if you are reinstated.” 

Before Bond could say anything, the Omega was walking off quickly, clearly not intending to stay longer with the Alpha.

-

“Did something happen while I was away?” Bond asked Eve once all the tests were finished. “The Quartermaster seems a bit more high strung.” 

The woman raised an eyebrow at him, looking like she was questioning why he was asking such a question – perhaps finding it a tad ridiculous.

“I would think anyone would be a bit disgruntled if they were being courted and suddenly the courting stopped without warning,” she said finally. 

“It wasn’t courting!” Bond growled, frowning.

“Keep telling yourself that,” the female Alpha replied with a roll of her eyes. “I swear the two of you are so blind. Since you’ve been gone Q has gone back to all the old habits he had when he first started here. He’s stopped taking care of himself.” 

“And how is that my fault?” the double-o asked, confused. “I’m afraid I’m not understanding.” 

“Since you stopped feeding him it’s like any food is invisible,” Eve snapped. “It’s like he subconsciously knows it’s not from you anymore. I’ve tried, Tanner has tried, and his minions are still trying to get him to stop long enough to eat a proper meal. The two of you may be stupidly blind to what was going on but it’s clear to those of us smart enough to pick it up. Courting is serious business and regardless of designation there is a subconscious negative reaction to it ending without warning.” 

“Q’s a bright lad, he’ll bounce back,” Bond shot back. 

“I suggest you think seriously about how you feel about the Quartermaster,” Eve replied with a slight icy tone in her voice. “Considering how important he is to MI6 I believe it would be in your best interest to figure out what exactly you want from him. He’s the best Quartermaster we’ve had in a number of years and everyone is quite fond of him.” 

She spun on her heels and walked off, clearly done with the conversation. 

Bond didn’t feel all that enlightened.

-

Q wasn’t sure why he felt strange around James Bond, now that the wayward agent was back. There was a tension in the air whenever they had to converse, and it confused him. He wasn’t sure what was happening. He’d been through Bond disappearing for stretches before, this time hadn’t been anything new. 

So why did it feel so different? The usual snark and sass were gone, replaced with cold, clipped conversations.

Being around Bond was almost painful.

He couldn’t seem to force himself to return to the usual banter and act like things were normal. 

“I don’t understand it,” he complained to one of his cats, having gone home for a rare evening to see his fur balls and attempt a decent night of sleep. “He’s been gone before so why do I feel so bothered this time?” 

The cat of course, did not reply and just continued to wash his face with one dainty paw.


	13. Chapter 13

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Someone wants to start meddling and Q-branch has a morning of confusion.
> 
> Then R finds a clue to the identity of the Quartermaster.

In Eve Moneypenny’s opinion, one James Bond and one MI6 Quartermaster were the most oblivious idiots she’d ever had the pleasure of knowing. 

It was downright flabbergasting that neither had realized that Bond was courting. Clearly no one had ever taken the time to teach the two about all the signs of such things. She could have sworn that was something everyone learned at some point in their life. 

But after watching the two of them fumble about before going into this rather awkward coldness she wondered if she should take things into her own hands. 

Matchmaking was certainly fun, and it’d been a while since she’d meddled in someone else’s affairs. Perhaps she would corral R into helping her – the Beta seemed just as confused about what was going on.

-

Q sighed as he felt the start of a migraine building up behind his eyes. He’d spent too long in the depths of Q-branch once again and while he should have gone home hours ago, he’d gotten too absorbed in the lines of code for one of his long-term projects that would further help to bolster MI6’s cyber defenses. 

He wouldn’t allow anything like Silva to happen ever again. 

He felt tired lately – probably a combination of having too little sleep and not enough to eat. Q overworked himself constantly, allowing his need to reach all his goals and impress those who decided how much funding to give Q-branch. 

The Omega knew that he didn’t need to do as much as he did, but he couldn’t help it. He’d struggled from a young age to be seen as more than just a mere Omega and while times certainly had changed, the habits and drive to go beyond his designation were wound too deep into who he was. 

Wincing as too many things in his body creaked and cracked as he stood up from the computer desk, Q closed down the work station and realized that it was not only a strange hour of the night, but the branch was basically deserted. 

There was a skeleton crew this evening, as there were no missions going, but he couldn’t see any of them in this sector of the department. 

His cats would be fine at home – they had feeders which were currently well-stocked from his visit home just a couple days before – and while there wasn’t anything pressing to be back in the morning for at MI6, Q couldn’t really find it in himself to go home. 

Slipping into his office, Q kept the lights off and dropped his glasses onto the desk as well as his cell phone. He pressed the button that revealed the nesting nook and while he had a little shelf in the nook for his glasses, he couldn’t be bothered to sort that out this time. 

He let his body drop into the nest as soon as enough of it was revealed from concealment. Weariness and the growing migraine were quick to draw the Omega into sleep, the Q-branch leader not even taking the time to bury himself in the fuzzy blankets. 

Perhaps just a small nap would make things better, at least temporarily.

In his tired state, the Quartermaster had not set any alarms on his phone. 

-

Q-branch was in a small state of confusion in the morning. Usually Q was there when the day crew was arriving, but it was approaching mid-morning and their fearless leader was no where to be seen. There were no messages for R or anyone else to indicate that he was running late or would be absent for the day.

It was R who finally poked his head into Q’s office just to see if their wayward leader was inside, perhaps taking a nap at his desk (or perhaps just plain passed out at his desk). 

The Beta wasn’t expecting to see the revealed nest, nor the form of the Quartermaster sprawled in it, clearly oblivious to the world around him as he slumbered.

The wheels slowly turned in R’s head as he gazed at the scene. 

It was clearly a nest that the Quartermaster was curled up in. Nests were generally a habit of Omegas. 

R closed the door to the office and pondered on what was inside. He knew that Q was rather secretive of his status and he couldn’t fully understand why, but R was a smart cookie and knew it would be in his best interest to probably not say anything about what he’d just borne witness to.

“He’s passed out, was probably here all-night working,” he explained to the rest of Q-branch. “Everyone should work on whatever small projects you have going on. No one go disturb the Quartermaster – he certainly needs his beauty sleep!” 

The joke was enough to break the slight tension in the air and R breathed a tiny sight of relief when the minions didn’t question anything and got to work. 

He would check on Q later and maybe his boss would feel kind enough to answer a few questions.


	14. Chapter 14

Q had ended up sleeping longer than R anticipated and the second-in-command worried that this meant that Q was once again pushing the limits on what he could do. He’d braved the office when it was time for the day-shift to leave, if anything just to get Q awake enough to go home for the night. 

It was almost comical – and a bit worrying – how strangely easy it was to get Q rounded up and sent off in a company car to his own home while R took over briefing the night staff on what little was going on before heading out himself. 

Clearly something was going to have to be done about the Quartermaster – it was unlikely that Q had purposefully put himself into this position and given what he’d discovered, R had a sinking feeling that it was Q’s biology as an Omega – at least, clues certainly pointed strongly to him being one – that Q was currently experiencing a sort of drop. 

They would need one James Bond to fix this, R decided.

-

Unbeknownst to R, one Eve Moneypenny was having the same thoughts. She’d been watching Q’s condition deteriorate and certainly M wasn’t thrilled about having his Quartermaster looking and being so unwell.

The man was about ready to force Q on some vacation leave at the rate things were going although she didn’t think it would be all that helpful.

Not without one stubborn double-o agent named James Bond, of course. 

Both Bond and Q had looked well and happy when the courting was going on – though why both continued to deny it as such was beyond her at this point – and now Q was experiencing a rather bad drop.

Drop wasn’t very common as usually those involved in courting were rather aware of it going on. Bond and Q seemed to be an exception to this, though given that courting was generally something parents taught their young and MI6 was fond of recruiting orphans, perhaps no one had done such a service to the two men.

Drop, depending on the severity, either wound up with the Omega institutionalized for life living in a catatonic state or if the Omega was lucky they would just experience a small amount of depression or flu-like symptoms and be fine again in a manner of weeks. 

The Quartermaster seemed to be experiencing a drop that was on the more severe side of things and it was getting rather concerning. 

If a dropped-Omega did end up re-bonding to the Alpha that caused the problem, generally they recovered quickly, and life carried on. But it was rare that a re-bonding occurred.

There was of course the question lingering on if Bond would even want to start the courting behavior again. There was no telling how Q would react and certainly it would seem that Bond was only doing it as a mission, of sorts, if it was MI6 telling him to do it. 

Drop was still rather misunderstood if for the fact that it was rare and that a re-bonding had never been attempted before. 

Eve thought that perhaps she would discuss with Medical the idea as they were probably the only ones in MI6 who would have the faintest idea on if this sort of thing would be a good idea or not. 

-

Q had certainly never heard of drop before and he thought that perhaps he was experiencing some strange flu or that maybe his body was finally attempting to tell him that he worked too much. The Omega was getting a bit tired of being, well, tired all the time and he really just wanted to snap out of whatever malaise he was experiencing at the current time.

He was still not overly fond of Medical and stubbornly avoided them as he didn’t want to end up drugged into some kind of attempt at getting him to sleep. Naps in his office nest or resting at home when R chased him out of Q-branch was plenty. 

It was becoming nearly routine, after that first incident, that R had become something of a Q-handler aside from being second in command of the entirety of Q-branch. The Beta knew just when the leader had enough and when it was time for him to go home. 

The second in command could not, however, seem to get Q to start eating normally again and at the moment was resigning himself to just being glad to get the Omega home to sleep.

At least Q still loved tea in a nearly inhuman fashion and at least it helped keep the wayward boffin hydrated.


	15. Chapter 15

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Bond gets a new mission and is a tad confused.

Bond swaggered his way into Q-branch, ready to pick up his next set of gear for a mission. He glanced around at the techs sitting at their desks and was slightly confused at the sight of an empty workstation in the middle of the branch, where Q usually stood. R was currently speaking with a tech off to the side and there was no sign of the Quartermaster. 

“Ah, 007,” R called out when he spotted the Alpha. “If you wait there a moment I’ll get your kit.” 

“Where’s Q?” the agent replied as he stuffed his hands into his pocket, taking a slightly relaxed stance. 

R finished whatever he was doing with the tech and approached the agent, motioning for James to follow him to a quieter area of the branch, where they weren’t likely to be overheard by any curious minions.

“Your mission, agent, is of highest importance. You aren’t getting any kit as you’ll be staying local. Your only instructions are to find out what Drop is if you’ve never heard of it before and then you are to take care of your target until their condition improves.” The Beta didn't answer Bond's question regarding the Quartermaster.

Bond frowned at this, as M hadn’t really briefed him on the mission. He’d only said that Bond had better not further mess things up and sent him to Q-branch.

“I’m sorry? I’m to go play nurse?” he asked, voice tinged with a bit of annoyance and slight confusion. “I wasn’t aware that the double-o division had turned into medical.”

“Here’s the address,” R continued cheerfully, handing over a slip of paper to James. “This may be a long-term mission, so I suggest packing a nice big suitcase.” 

The Alpha agent seemed a bit perplexed but just nodded, turning to leave when R waved a hand in his direction to dismiss him.

He only looked at the piece of paper when he got outside the branch, puzzlement turning to downright confusion.

Q’s address was listed on the piece of paper.

-

Having been to the Quartermaster’s flat before, James was no stranger to the security system, which hadn’t changed since he had last been there.

The inside of the flat was dark and for a moment he wondered if anyone was even at home. Q had apparently been sent home on extended leave with the hopes that he would bounce back from whatever was going on and get back to the Q everyone was used to.

It was interesting, to be back here again for the same reason he’d been there prior – the Quartermaster was ill to some regard and Bond was to be his caretaker.

The cats didn’t come to greet him to give him their evil, judging glares and Bond quietly slipped further into the flat to determine where his charge and the furry beasts were.

The living area was bare, though the rumpled throw blanket on the couch indicated that at some point, Q had been on the piece of furniture. 

It was eerily quiet, and Bond’s hand itched to pull out his gun – just in case. The stillness was rather unnerving to the agent who was usually on guard in some fashion.

The door to Q’s bedroom wasn’t closed and as Bond went toward it he could see that someone – more than likely the under-the-weather-Quartermaster was nothing more than a many-blanket-covered lump. Two white fluffballs were atop said lump and only one of them deemed to open up an eye to regard the intruder with. 

The beasts had either already sorted out in that strange cat fashion that Bond was there, or they just simply were the worst guard cats ever. 

There wasn’t much movement from the lump underneath the cats, aside from a slight rise and fall. At least this meant that the person under all the blankets was breathing. The air in the room was stale and tinged slightly with sickness and the off-Omega smell that Bond realized was Q’s natural scent as he was a Defective. 

Moving quietly into the room, James knelt beside the bed and reached out a hand, carefully moving the covers back so he could get a look at his charge without hopefully startling the other. 

The sight that met his eyes was quite worrisome. Q was fast asleep and clearly completely unaware of the world outside of his bed. He looked tired – dark circles under his eyes and a gaunt appearance. His hair was a mess and Bond couldn’t remember seeing Q’s fingers looking so thin, the hands so frail. 

He felt a pang of something, the Alpha getting the feeling of wanting to _protect_ and _heal_. It wouldn’t hit him that this was basically his fault until he researched that thing that R had mentioned – Drop, wasn’t it? – but in the meantime he had a mission and he did care about the Quartermaster, willing to do what he needed to get Q at least functioning again.

Mind set and strange feelings still swirling inside of him, James Bond stood to go see if Q had anything remotely resembling decent food in the kitchen.


	16. Chapter 16

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Bond begins his care of the Quartermaster...

Having James Bond in the flat didn’t seem to deter the cats much, as they continued about their regular schedule and were more than pleased when the guest fed them a bit more than Q did. Besides, perhaps they were grudgingly admitting that it was nice to have a human around that did more than just lay in bed and occasionally get up to shuffle about in a daze haphazardly taking care of themselves.

James had ended up ordering a grocery delivery, as there were few items in the cupboards or refrigerator that he deemed edible, or enough to make a meal with. It was all very similar to before, when he’d cared for the ill Quartermaster but at the same time it was far different as this time, things were much more serious.

He’d taken a moment to look up what Drop was on his phone – he may not have understood technology all that well, but he could handle a smartphone – and the findings had him wanting to down alcohol until he was drunk out of his mind. 

James Bond couldn’t remember wanting to do such things since the whole Vesper incident and then when the former M had died in his arms in the Silva incident. 

Once the urge to drink had passed there was a rather heavy feeling of guilt. While he still didn’t want to believe he had been courting the Quartermaster, the fact that Q was in the throes of Drop (which only happened as a result of courting) sort of hammered the point home that everyone else was clearly aware of.

He wondered if Q had realized that it had been courting. 

Thinking back over it all, the Alpha realized that he felt something for the other – why else would he have started to court the Omega? – and clearly along the way, due to his own lack of knowledge of things, he’d messed up horribly. 

James could see now why he’d been assigned this duty. It was his problem to fix and MI6 certainly needed a Quartermaster that could function at one-hundred-percent. In his current state, Q most certainly couldn’t cause massive amounts of damage with a laptop in his pajamas, before his first cup of Earl Grey. In fact, the boffin could barely pull himself from bed.

Q was also not really that communicative and James had to watch the other carefully for any signs of discomfort from what he was doing. He’d moved Q to the couch in the living room area for a bit whilst he tidied up the bedroom – changed the bedding, opened a window to get a little fresh air going and even gotten a warm bath going in the master bathroom.

The poor Omega only made small whining noises when he was carried back in and undressed (offering no help in the process) and the whines quieted once he was settled in the bath water. James was very careful as he washed the other – keeping his movements slow and doing his best to be gentle. Q hadn’t been wearing his glasses, so Bond didn’t have to worry about them as he moved on to washing the younger male’s hair. 

It wasn’t that Q was all that dirty, it was just the strange feeling of needing to totally care for the out-of-sorts Omega that had Bond doing this. He wanted the other to be comfortable and baths could also be rather relaxing. It also gave him a chance to see just how far Q had fallen in terms of taking care of himself – the younger male had always been on the skinny side of things but what Bond was seeing now was bordering on rather dangerous. 

It was very disconcerting to be able to feel Q’s ribs and spine so clearly. 

Once the bath was over, Q was dried off with warmed, fluffy towels and dressed in fresh pajamas. Bond tucked the Quartermaster back into bed, watching as Q immediately drifted into sleep. The Alpha would try and get Q to eat something later – something easy like broth, perhaps. 

Right now, he felt oddly content to listen to Q’s soft breathing as he watched the Omega sleeping. 

James was going to fix this mistake, this grave error that he’d made that would have far reaching consequences if he didn’t own up to it. He wasn’t sure what would happen between himself and Q going forward, but if he could restore the Quartermaster to his former glory, then he would do his best. 

The agent settled beside the bed, the sound of Q’s quiet breaths lulling him into a light doze.


	17. Chapter 17

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Bond continues to care for the Quartermaster as Q drifts in the furthest reaches of his mind....

Q was definitely too light and the ease at which he could lift and carry the boffin around the flat was very worrying. It was moving onto day four of caring for the Quartermaster and so far, Q didn’t seem to be coming out from his Drop status. James had done as much research as he could and was trying to do things that would comfort the other and provide him a grounding presence of an Alpha. 

Currently he was laying on the couch, reading one of the many books on Q’s bookshelves as the Omega lay atop him, a soft quilt covering the two of them for added comfort. 

The cats were on the back of the couch, half-slitted eyes keeping a close watch on their human and the guest-human. At least their human wasn’t laying in bed all day for once.

James turned another page in the book, listening to the soft breathing noises coming from the slight male resting atop him. He’d managed to get the Quartermaster to drink a fair bit of soup broth and some water, which he counted as a small accomplishment. 

From the reading he had done about Drop, Q had been dangerously close to the point of no return. The agent was hoping that he had managed to put the breaks on the deterioration of MI6’s best Quartermaster. 

He was pretty sure it would be on his head if Q was unable to return to his duties and had to be institutionalized to be properly taken care of for the duration of the rest of his days.

It felt oddly nice, having the weight of Q resting on him in such a relaxed manner. These four days had felt rather domestic, despite the seriousness of the situation. It was strange to him, a person who usually got antsy the longer away from a gun-slinging mission they were, that he felt none of the urges to go punch something (or someone). 

Bond set down the book he was reading to observe the silent Quartermaster. It was very strange to have gone for some time now without any of that dry wit or exasperated sarcasm being tossed in his direction.

Granted, things had been rather stifled between the two of them recently and now that he knew what Drop was, Bond had realized with a tinge of bitterness that that had been the start of this.

Lifting a hand, the agent gently carted his fingers through the dark strands of Q’s hair – for once not in their usual tangled disarray but laying nicely on his head. Bond wondered what was going on inside of Q’s mind, far away where no one seemed to be able to reach him. 

-

Q felt like he was drifting in a sea of syrup. Everything was so muffled it was almost as if he couldn’t hear at all. Sensation was dulled to the point of near nonexistence and all he wanted to do was continue to sleep.

When the movements of his body happened, all he could do was whine and hope that whoever was manipulating him stopped. Why couldn’t they see he was just sleeping? He felt really tired for some reason and his body felt so heavy.

He couldn’t recall what day it was or even the time – it all just blurred together into one vague semblance of existence. 

The young man only had the faintest sensation of food and drink being given to him – his body moving on autopilot to swallow and of warmth spreading through him. He was aware just a little of gentle hands on his skin and fingers stroking through his hair. 

He only hoped that whoever was with him, that they were taking care of his cats. He had failsafes in place for them if anything were to happen but even his beloved fluffballs weren’t enough to drag him from here and back to the real world. 

There was something about the presence with him that felt so familiar and wonderfully comforting. He wondered who was taking care of him or if this was just another part of his mind playing tricks in order to wake him back to the real world where he was alone and miserable. 

Q still didn’t know why things were as they were.

But here, in this weird stasis that he found himself in, he found that he didn’t really care all that much about finding out. Here was safe and nice and he didn’t have to worry about how he was feeling in reality. 

He could feel the sensation of fingers in his hair again and as the gesture brought warmth to him, Q felt himself relax further.

-

Bond was rather surprised when he heard a faint noise coming from the Quartermaster that wasn’t an unconscious whine of discontent. Rather this seemed to be a noise of enjoyment or total relaxation. It was so faint that at first, he’d thought it was one of the cats – until Q had made the sound again and the too-thin body had relaxed even further atop him. 

It was a tiny thing and perhaps it wasn’t really a reaction to what Bond was doing, but it planted a miniscule seed of hope within the agent.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I wanted to cheer myself up with fluff so I decided to put out this chapter a bit earlier than planned...


	18. Chapter 18

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A tiny dash of hope...

It became a common thing, as the days passed, for James to take up position on the couch to read or watch tv, with the rather still catatonic Quartermaster resting atop him. The cats continued to perch on the back to oversee what was going on with the humans. 

The agent continued to regularly report via phone to M and could tell that the leader of MI6 was getting rather bothered that Q didn’t seem to be coming out of his sorry state. Whilst R was doing fantastic at keeping the branch going, it wasn’t going to be ideal to have the Quartermaster gone for too long and M really didn’t want to have to make a rather difficult decision regarding Q’s future with MI6. 

There was certainly the underlying concern and considerable worry that Q wasn’t going to snap out of this, despite having the presence of James around. 

“I wonder if I’m even helping you,” the Alpha murmured as he gently carded his fingers through Q’s hair. “You don’t seem to be getting any better...”

At least Q didn’t seem to be getting any worse. There was still a tiny sliver of hope.

-

There were things seeping into the nice warmth of wherever he’d thrown his mind to. A murmuring voice too soft to understand but still somehow soothing sometimes echoed in the void. Sometimes it felt like there was pressure on his metaphorical body, stroking along his head or just as a warm body pressed to his. 

He vaguely knew that this wasn’t reality, that he was hiding though he wasn’t entirely sure what he was hiding from. 

But the presence that had been with him lately felt familiar and safe. It called out to the Omega and Q wondered how long he had been away. Was someone trying to draw him back? He liked it here where he didn’t feel any of the depression or strange aches in his heart. 

He knew that it was important to go back to reality, back to MI6 and all the general chaos of life. He knew he had to get back to his cats but here was so nice and really it felt near impossible to free himself. Not that he was trying all that hard at the moment, anyway. 

Q couldn’t remember clearly the times he was able to surface, even just barely. It was only enough to do things like brush his teeth or shower, etc. Never enough to fully interact with the world and whoever was with him. 

The Quartermaster of MI6 drifted in the void and felt a slight pull, the feeling that he was going to wake up, even for just a moment, shortly. He didn’t try to fight it, feeling safe at the moment and let the strange space around him fade away.

-  
James had been murmuring softly to Q, talking about nothing and everything – just wanting to fill the quiet and not expecting anything to happen. Q had been so unresponsive so far, so why would that change now? 

He felt Q shifting atop him and glanced down to check on the boffin – it wasn’t unusual for Q to move around a bit, but it always made him wonder if it was a sign the other was coming out of his rather awful state.

Q didn’t have his glasses on and Bond could clearly see the green-hazel eyes peering at him, though it wasn’t too clear to him if Q was actually aware of what he was doing. 

“Q?” the agent pressed softly, just to see if there would be any reaction. He wasn’t entirely sure that Q would be thrilled at their current position. 

The younger male shifted a little bit and let out a small huff of air but kept silent. He wriggled his way a little bit up James’s body until he could tuck his head under the other’s chin. 

James blinked at this and tentatively began to stroke Q’s hair again as best he could, surprised when he heard the faintest of sounds from the other that indicated enjoyment of the gentle touches. 

It was the first sound that wasn’t a noise of disgruntlement that he had heard in quite some time from the Omega.


	19. Chapter 19

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A brief conversation with Eve and soothing away a nightmare...

James Bond was growing quite used to keeping Q close, it did seem to somehow soothe the still not-really-there Omega and Q was finally slowly starting to show signs of coming out of the state he’d been in, courtesy of the Drop. 

The boffin still did far too much sleeping for Bond’s liking, though the moments of slight awareness were enough to temper the discomfort the Alpha was feeling. Q had yet to speak and Bond wondered if the other was even remotely aware yet of who he was, or if the Quartermaster thought in his state that Bond was just some random caretaker.

Eve called to check in on one of the nights were Q was curled up asleep in bed. James had spent the day being domestic around the flat and finding himself oddly content with the process. 

“How is he?” the young woman asked, worry laced in her voice. “Is he getting any better?” 

“I’m not sure,” James replied truthfully. “He still spends most of the day sleeping and I haven’t managed to get him to react to much.” 

Eve hummed at this, sighing a little bit as well. It went without saying that everyone had been hoping that Q would bounce back quickly with James taking care of him. 

“And how are you doing?” she asked. “Getting the itch for the field yet?” 

James surprisingly found that he was rather quick to come up with an answer. An answer that had this been asked before this whole Drop debacle, he would be answering differently.

“I feel rather strangely content,” the agent admitted. “I don’t know why but taking care of Q seems to keep me from getting restless.” 

The noise Eve made at this surprise confession was a mix of curiosity and happiness. 

“I’m turning domestic,” the double-o almost whined, sounding just a bit unsure of himself. “I don’t understand why being around him has me feeling so at ease.”

“I think you do understand, somewhere in that hard head of yours,” Eve replied with a soft laugh. “Honestly the two of you are ridiculous. But just take your time with it all, MI6 will be alright. If anyone can bring our Quartermaster back, it’s you.”

-

It was the soft whining that got the attention of Bond first. It was low but tinged with a bit of fear and anxiety. The agent followed the sound to the bedroom where Q had been slumbering, frowning as he looked at the boffin covered in thick blankets.

Q was curled up in a ball, making the soft noises that had caught the attention of the Alpha. There was a distressed look on the Omega’s face and the air was tinged with the scent of discomfort. Bond moved to the bedside and knelt down, reaching out a hand to smooth hair away from Q’s face, hoping the motion would soothe whatever nightmare was haunting the younger male.

It concerned Bond to hear the noises that were coming from the other. The whimpers and whines tugged at every Alpha instinct and he had to bite back a whine of worry himself, not knowing what to do to get Q to calm from whatever was disturbing his slumber. 

“Sssh, Q,” he murmured, unsure of what else to really say. “It’s alright. You’re safe...” 

Q’s whines built to a fever pitch before suddenly quieting, the boffin’s face relaxing slowly as whatever nightmare was ailing him faded away. Bond continued to stroke his fingers through Q’s dark hair, watching as the other’s breathing evened out and Q slipped into a more restful slumber. 

“What were you dreaming about, I wonder....” James murmured. His own anxiety was starting to fade now that the Quartermaster was calm again. 

He kept up the soothing motions of stroking Q’s hair – though really at this point it was hard to say if it was still for Q’s benefit or for his own. He watched the slumbering Omega, wondering when his efforts would be rewarded with Q emerging from his Dropped status. 

Bond knew that they couldn’t do this forever – at some point Mallory would have to make the decision on Q’s future as Quartermaster and Bond himself would be needed out in the field again, despite being so close to retirement age. 

But for now he was strangely content to be here, soothing away nightmares for the Omega in his care, making sure he did what he could to bring Q back from wherever his mind had fled.


	20. Chapter 20

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> James has seemingly made himself right at home, all but moving into Q's flat...

Q’s exit from wherever he’d gone in his mind continued to drag out. There were small signs and mere seconds of awareness, but Bond was starting to wonder if even he wasn’t enough to bring the Omega back.

The best chances for Q to become aware that he wasn’t alone seemed to be when they were on the couch together, Q settled atop the agent with his head tucked beneath the Alpha’s chin. He had yet to speak but when he was having moments of being back to clarity. 

Bond’s affection for the younger male deepened the more time the Alpha spent with the Omega. His feelings were certainly soft affection – border lining actual love – for the boffin and at this point the agent had all but moved in entirely to Q’s flat. 

His own mostly-un-packed and rather un-lived in flat was gathering a nice collection of dust these days.

James Bond continued to not feel the itch to be back in the field, thick in the midst of bad guys, explosions and debauchery that were so common in his career. He was so strangely content, looking after Q and minding the flat. The cats and he had reached an agreeable truce and the furry beasts were rather well-behaved for him and seemed to have decided that he was a worthy enough human to not be given judgmental looks to all the time.

It was yet another spectacularly rainy day in London when the first major breakthrough occurred.

-

Bond set down the book he’d been reading as he felt Q stir atop him, the Omega covered in a lovely quilt, head in its usual place tucked beneath James’s chin. Movements from Q weren’t necessarily uncommon but generally it was the other just unconsciously shifting position while sleeping. One of Q’s hands had been resting on James’s chest and the agent felt the thin fingers curling slightly – a new movement that hadn’t happened before during this Drop.

Keeping his own movements slow, just in case Q was aware enough of them, Bond raised a hand and gently smoothed it over the wild curls of the younger male’s hair. Just enough to be a soothing, calming pressure. He didn’t want the other to get a fright if he was coming out of his Dropped state further than before.

There was a thin, soft whine that issued forth from the boffin and the sound brought both a spark of hope and a bit of a sad feeling – the whine sounded a tad on the confused and frightened side of things – to the Alpha. 

Q’s abnormal scent had also picked up a slightly different tang to it and it was clear that this awakening was something different than the episodes prior.

“Q?” Bond asked softly, making sure to not move so he could look at the other, still being careful to not give the other a fright. “Are you back?” 

The whine turned a tad more feral and high pitched – confusion and fear clouding Q’s brain as he struggled to pull back to reality. Bond had read that Drop was rather difficult to return from and that even when successful the process was often rather jarring for the Omega involved. Confusion and fear were normal as generally an Omega was institutionalized for Drop and thus would wake up to unfamiliar surroundings and scents. 

“Q,” Bond stated, putting a little more firmness to his voice. “It’s alright. You’re safe. This is home, with your two cats and an absurd amount of tea in the cupboards.” Clearly, he was the outlier there and it sent the Alpha reeling just a little to think that he was causing more distress for the one he cared about – the one he’d put into this state in the first place. 

The cats were awake and looked as if they wanted to rescind their judgment of the Alpha-human. The white puffballs hopped down from their perches on the back of the sofa to start purring rather loudly and nuzzle against Q – sensing that their favorite human needing comforting. 

Those thin fingers twitched and curled again, worry creasing Bond’s brow as he waited to see if the other would respond at all to the cats or his voice. Q was still doing that unnerving whine and was clearly agitated about something. 

The cats continued to try and make the unwell human feel better and then proceeded to look rather smug when the whining ceased, and Q fell silent again. Bond waited to see what would happen next, trying not to let the Omega pick up on his own anxiety. 

A few moments went by and James thought that perhaps Q had fallen back to sleep – back into that faraway place in his mind that no one else could reach. 

But those fingers twitched again, and Bond felt little spots of pressure as Q seemed to be tapping out some kind of pattern. It wasn’t Morse code and the agent found befuddlement settling in as he tried to sort out just what Q was doing. Was the boffin imagining he was doing some kind of coding, perhaps? 

“Q?” he asked, trying to not let his worry seep into the softly asked question. “Are you there?” 

The typing fingers stuttered in their pattern, Q’s breath hitching just slightly. There was a small noise of confusion from the Omega and Bond felt the other shift atop him again, untucking himself from the comforting position enough so that James was able to see Q’s face.

Q’s green-hazel eyes were still holding a slightly far-off look to them, as if he wasn’t entirely coherent at this point in his Drop recovery. Those eyes however seemed to be clearly looking at Bond and the agent could almost hear the wheels in Q’s head turning as the other tried to sort out just what was going on.

The Quartermaster eventually broke his gaze to look around a little bit, as if to check that he was indeed home in a familiar place, before going back to the outlier in the flat – one double-o agent who had clearly made himself rather at home. 

Without his glasses on, Bond wasn’t truly certain just how much Q was able to take in clearly, with the added complication of a frazzled brain thanks to the Drop. But at this distance he was pretty sure that Q could see who he was. 

“Hello, Q,” the older man greeted quietly. “Have you decided to come home from your wanderings?” 

Q seemed to be taking in their position with additional perplexity and another near-panicked whine caught in his throat, the young male being aware enough of it to stop it in his tracks. 

“Double o...seven...” Q eventually murmured, his voice rather hoarse from disuse and his words hesitant, as if it was taking him a little time to piece them together. “What....are you...doing here?”


	21. Chapter 21

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Recovery continues and Bond gets a bit of insight as to where Q has been...

Q’s moment of clarity seemed to be sticking, to a degree. The fog had yet to lift from his eyes and the boffin still seemed to prefer to lay boneless on top of the agent as Bond attempted to explain to him – trying to simplify what was going on. He knew that Q was a genius but at this time it seemed that simple was better while the younger male was recovering.

“You went into Drop,” Bond murmured as Q huffed out a little breath of irritation – wanting to clear the cobwebs from his brain but not being able to. “I was tasked with caring for you.” 

The Quartermaster, for all his genius, didn’t know what Drop was but couldn’t muster up enough brain power to really worry about it at the moment. He would have to ask the other later just what Drop was, when he was coherent enough to process more complicated things. 

“R has been doing a good job with Q-branch and I’m sure everyone will be happy to hear that you’re recovering finally,” Bond continued. “Though I don’t know when M will let you back to work.”

He wasn’t sure that Q was going to be ready to resume his duties as Quartermaster for some time. M would probably want the Omega to go through some sessions with one (or more) members of the Psych department of Medical. 

Q didn’t say anything in reply, but Bond could tell that the Omega wasn’t sleeping. 

“What was it like, where you were?” the agent asked after a moment, though he wasn’t expecting Q to be coherent enough to fully answer. He didn’t mention how close they’d come to M deciding that they’d waited long enough for Q to return to them. 

The Omega sighed a little as his muddled brain turned over the question a few times before forming an answer.

“Warm. Safe. Quiet. I was...drifting...”

“Were you aware at all?” 

“It was...like auto....autopilot...?” Q answered with a touch of confusion in his voice, not entirely sure of his words. “I knew there was someone here...”

Bond combed his fingers through the dark curls of Q’s hair, humming thoughtfully. 

“Is my presence here good or bad?” the agent finally settled on. He couldn’t smell any distress from the other now and Q seemed calm to him. 

Instead of attempting another sentence, Q just made a little noise of content and his eyes fell shut, the Omega’s lax body somehow managing to relax further. Apparently just this little while of coherency was enough to wear him out. 

James let Q slumber on him for a while, eventually (and very carefully) maneuvering the two of them so that he could leave the boffin resting on the couch while he got up. 

A soft blanket was tucked around the slumbering Quartermaster and the older man slipped into the kitchen to see about putting together dinner. He had made a rather large batch of soup the other day and the leftovers had been tucked away for later. They were probably still safe for re-heating and consuming. 

While Q was awake, which was delightful, it would still be some time before he was ready for a heavier meal, considering the state he’d been in before Bond had started taking care of him through the Drop.

It was still so odd how ok he was with being domestic and caring for the other. After his past failures at relationships, Bond hadn’t wanted to get involved with an Omega again. Yet here was Q, this Defective Omega who seemed to have captured his cold heart and who was gradually warming it up.

There was something rather special about this one, clearly.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Life has just been absolutely draining my creativity lately, not to mention depression and severe loneliness rearing their ugly heads a bit stronger than usual and messing with me. This chapter is on the short side again but I felt like y'all deserved at least a little something instead of having to wait longer...


	22. Chapter 22

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A somewhat return to normalcy - at least for 007 - whilst James and Q deal with newfound instincts...

James was summoned back to MI6 a week after Q had done his so-called reemergence from his Drop state. The Alpha wasn’t thrilled with this, as Q still had periods where he wasn’t that responsive, but apparently there was enough things going on in the world that needed all double-0 agents accounted for. 

R was still leading Q-branch though the Beta was hoping that Bond returning meant that Q would soon be back as well. He was holding his own, but he wasn’t the genius that was the Quartermaster and while he hadn’t been put in the R position for nothing, he would be very happy to go back to second-in-command once this was all over. 

Q had gotten used to having Bond around his flat, caring for him and his two fluffballs that masqueraded as cats. The Omega had gotten used to the near-constant cuddles and gentle touches. It was Bond’s presence that kept him in clearer mindset and when the two had gotten word that Bond was being pulled back to MI6, Q nearly regressed. 

He knew that they would have to return but now that he’d experienced the care of a good Alpha, Q’s instincts as an Omega – despite being Defective – were heading towards overdrive. James had left behind some shirts of his so Q would have his scent as comfort but neither really knew how much it would help – they were just hopeful that it would be enough to keep him from regressing while James was away. 

Bond had been with Omegas in the past, but all of this was still new territory for him – he’d never gone through a Drop with an Omega before and Q had never been with a good Alpha before, so he was shocked at how he was reacting. 

The agent meanwhile, found himself feeling antsy whilst he was away on the (thankfully short-lived 3-days long) mission and had to refrain from snapping in irritation at the poor Q-branch employee who’d gotten saddled with being his handler. 

It went without saying that some piece of tech went missing during said mission – yet another poor gun lost in the line of duty, though not to a Komodo dragon this time, simply thrown like a boomerang and bouncing off the head of a bad-guy and down a conveniently placed open sewage drain. 

R just sighed long-sufferingly as the tech-abuse-by-007 continued, even without Q being present. 

-

Q found himself feeling more relieved than he had in the past when James finished a mission. It had just been three days, but he’d spent one of them almost entirely in bed cuddling the shirts the agent had left behind – only getting up to take care of personal hygiene and feed his cats. 

The fact that the other was unharmed was welcome news and he even couldn’t bring himself to be too upset about the gun being lost. 

-

“This is very strange,” James commented as they lay in the familiar position on the couch – Q resting atop the Alpha, enjoying some post-dinner cuddles. “Now that I’m back with you, the restlessness I’ve been feeling is gone.” Replacing it was that familiar state of being rather content he’d come to enjoy while caring for the Quartermaster through the worst of the Drop. 

“I didn’t leave my bed...the first day...” Q replied, half-asleep and thus a little slow to respond. It didn’t help that Bond’s fingers were combing gently through his hair and making him feel like purring, had he been a cat. 

“Q...” James frowned, a bit of frustrated worry in his voice. “You know that’s not healthy...” 

“Didn’t care. Missed you too much. Leaving the shirts was a good idea, they helped keep me from falling too far back into Drop.” 

“I don’t like that I was called away so soon – what if you’d regressed back to how I found you? I nearly gave M an earful about having to go back. I didn’t want to leave you.” 

“Maybe we should read more about Alpha/Omega connections...but I’m too tired...”

James was pretty certain of his own instincts, though considering it had been some time since his Alpha instincts had reared up so strongly, it was hard to admit to himself that he was thinking about staying longer with the Quartermaster, even when he was fully recovered. 

Would it really be so bad to bond with the boffin? Certainly, he felt a strong fondness for the younger male now that they had spent this time together – or had that just been the natural instincts of Alpha to care for an Omega in poorly condition? He would have to keep thinking about it as Q continued to recover, to see if these feelings continued on when Q was healthy again. 

Q was rather sleepy, and his brain was turning to mush – the combination of the last bits of Drop fading and feeling tired as his body wasn’t in top condition yet. But he was very content and now that James was with him again, the anxiety of the past three days was fading quickly. 

It was strange to him – he’d tried relationships in the past, but of course with being Defective, they had never lasted, and he’d ended up in some rough situations. He’d never thought he’d be spending so much time close to a double-0 agent. But having James here was soothing and his Omega instincts were kicking into high gear, despite the Defective status. 

He found himself feeling strangely content and briefly the thought of bonding slipped through his tired mind.

But the thought left as quickly as it came, leaving him little time to dwell on it. Perhaps he was just feeling these sorts of things due to spending so much time around an Alpha that actually cared about his well-being. 

Q made a soft noise as Bond’s fingers stopped their gentle movement, the Alpha chuckling softly at the clear disgruntlement from the Omega – it was obviously not time to stop playing with Q’s hair – and began to motion again. 

Caught up in the peaceful aura radiating from his companion, and with his body continuing back on recovery now that Bond had returned to his side, Q drifted into a gentle sleep.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This has honestly been the loveliest fandom experience I've ever had in my years waffling between fandoms. Thank you all for the continued support, it is much appreciated. You all are lovely. <3


	23. Chapter 23

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A bit of time passing with life slowly making it's way back to normalcy....

As his recovery continued and he began to check up on things in Q-branch – now that he was being allowed back, to an extent – Q knew that there was something he and Bond would have to discuss soon. Their time spent together had drawn up instincts he’d personally sought to repress over the years but with all that had gone on, that repression was failing. 

It wasn’t entirely a bad thing in this particular situation, however. Bond was a good Alpha who didn’t seem to care about Q’s unusual Omega status and the agent had done everything right so far in showing Q that he would be a good match. 

Q supposed it was his own years of fear that were making him still a little wary – despite how much he enjoyed the development between himself and Bond, there was still that inner voice telling him not to let himself get too close. 

After being hurt so much in his past, due to his Defective status, Q didn’t want to let his hopes get too high. Bond may have been breaking down some of the walls he’d built up around himself but still more remained. 

He was, to put it simply, afraid to let them all down. 

-  
After everything he’d been through before, Bond wasn’t entirely certain he was wanting to open up his bitter heart to another Omega. But here was Q – Defective yet still so utterly perfect. He wasn’t like a typical Omega in behavior, which James had come to find rather fetching. 

He’d gotten used to spending time with the Quartermaster in a not super professional setting and he was surprised at the readjustment he was having to go through.

He still went home to Q however. Neither one of them had mentioned anything about Bond returning back to his own flat now that Q was recovered enough to be back on his own. James had gotten used to the company, the warm body that liked to lay against his and he’d even become used to the two fluffy cats. 

Bond had never felt at home in his own flat – he still hadn’t fully unpacked/decorated the thing – yet there was a sense of such when he was with Q at the boffin’s home. It was nice to have someone to go back to.

The Alpha was rather nervous about where this was all heading and he knew at some point decisions would have to be made. 

-

Q sighed in fond exasperation as he combed through the many e-mails he’d accumulated during his downtime. The minions of Q-branch were a rather interesting group – sometimes they were like herding small children – and their spamming his inbox with messages full of updates on just about everything going on seemed to be their way to make sure their leader was feeling better. He didn’t really need to know that Bob in Accounting was dating Joanne the cafeteria lady, but clearly the minions felt it was important. 

The Quartermaster still had yet to be allowed back to MI6 though working from home was nice – the cats made excellent company and were nice and quiet unlike his minions (they were a rather excitable bunch). He did miss it all, however. 

He was hoping that soon he would be back in his domain, coding and seeing agents through missions, with a bit of inventing and tech experimentation on the side. He was a top MI6 official as well and the fact they’d been able to go so long without him was quite something. 

Q continued to sort through his e-mails – this was going to take him some time, considering the amount of work he’d missed – semi-aware of Bond in the kitchen in the background. The agent was on the mandatory post-mission leave, though the mission hadn’t been much of anything (Q wondered if he’d be able to handle Bond going on another mission considering how he’d responded this time). 

“I think I’ll need to have a word with R on keeping everyone busier...” the Quartermaster murmured as he scrolled through more e-mails from the minions. “I really don’t think keeping me informed of all the rumors of MI6 is a good use of time...”

“They miss you,” Bond commented as he continued fixing dinner. “Let them have their fun. You can scold them when you return to Q-branch. Now break yourself away from that screen long enough to come eat, you’re still recovering.”

Q’s recovery was progressing nicely, but he still found himself getting fatigued more easily and his weight was taking its sweet time in coming back – not that he’d ever been able to hold much on him, due to a ridiculous metabolism. At least his brain had stopped being foggy and he was able to think clearly and speak properly once again.

He would have to speak with Mallory soon about coming back – fatigue was something he could deal with (he could take naps periodically and let R take over during them) and since that seemed to be the last effect remaining of the Drop, Q hoped it would be enough to convince the head of MI6 to let him back in his branch. 

Dinner was a quiet affair between the Alpha and Omega, neither one of them bringing up the subject that they rather needed to discuss.

They were both avoiding that subject for the time being, neither wanting to be the one to broach the topic and possibly cause strife in what had developed into a nice sort of domestic affair.


	24. Chapter 24

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Things are back to normal...

Q’s return to the depths of Q-branch full time was met with a rather impromptu (and somewhat dangerous) party from his adoring minions. They were a sort of pseudo-pack, seeing Q as the awe-inspiring leader who’s words they were quick to obey. It didn’t matter to them his status – he was the Boss and while R had done a rather impressive job keeping them in line, it was still nice to have Q back. 

Once the confetti guns had been tucked away and the cake remains wheeled off to the break room, the branch quieted, and Q took his place at his center podium, opening up window after window to see who was in the field, how projects were coming along and how his branch had faired in his absence. 

R retook his usual position not at the center of attention and reported to Q on all the important things that he may have missed in the spam of e-mails from his minions reporting on literally everything going on in MI6. 

“So, that’s it,” the Beta finished after a few minutes. “Clearly you noticed the minions missed you, I’m impressed you aren’t going off on them for probably overloading your inbox.” 

“It was both vexing and oddly amusing at the same time,” the Quartermaster sighed, shaking his head a little bit. “How did they find time to do their work proper with how many messages they were sending me?”

“It was actually strangely quiet,” the second-in-command supplied with a light shrug. “It seemed the evil of the world actually took a bit of vacation while you were gone. I think the only big excitement while you were away was double-o-three deciding to mimic a particular couple of other agents and nearly cause an international incident with Canada.” 

Q could feel a headache forming at those words. This current 003 was a newer agent, having been promoted earlier in the year after the prior 003 had died in the line of duty. He unfortunately seemed to idolize, to an extent, 006 and 007 and Q was a bit impressed it had taken him this long to try and be like his heroes. 

He was interrupted from his annoyed thoughts by a shout by a minion that the R&D minions had set the lab on fire once again. 

It was good to be back.

-

Bond had honestly felt a weird sense of annoyance in that Q was returning to work. He supposed it was some weird instinct that had him wanting to keep the other tucked up safe at home. The agent didn’t like the Alpha instincts sometimes, they made him think in a rather backwards way and he knew he had no right to command Q to do anything. He knew that some Alpha/Omega pairs lived that way and that instincts played a part in it, but that didn’t mean he had to listen to them.

He was good at not listening, after all. 

-

_“For the love of – 007!”_ came the rather familiar annoyed voice in his ear. _“Didn’t you hear me tell you NOT to throw your gun?!”_

“But Quartermaster, what else am I supposed to do when I’m out of bullets?” the agent replied with a smirk. “Besides, I took him out, didn’t I?” 

_“While that may be true, I will remind you that this mission was supposed to be conducted in stealth, not guns blazing!”_

“It was a bit too quiet and besides, they shot first!” 

It was nice to return to normal, with Q griping in his ear about his mission behavior.

-  


Q’s absence had also made the Accounting department rather happy – to an extent – as there had been (for the most part) less crazy budget woes from Q-branch. They’d been out of the red for a record three whole days! But then R&D had quickly broken that break and made the Accounting department cry. 

Overall, it was back to normal at MI6.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Honestly didn't mean to go so long before this chapter appeared, life likes to throw wrenches in plans...
> 
> Also this honestly was a filler chapter to just move things along, my apologies....


	25. Chapter 25

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Quartermaster and the agent are finally getting somewhere....

With things back to normal at MI6, Q soon lost himself in the work of Q-branch. There were minions to keep busy, after all. Clearly, they hadn’t been busy enough in his absence what with all that e-mail spamming they’d done, and he was more than happy to dole out projects and assignments to keep their noses to the grindstone, so to speak. 

Said minions took to the new work with minimal fuss – helped out by Q begrudgingly allowing them a pizza party here and there – and Q was quite pleased to have a few less things on his own table and that he didn’t have to feel like he was barely keeping his head above water.

His absence had resulted in the rather unwanted backlog of paperwork to go through. Q much rather wanted to burn the whole lot in the R&D labs than work on them. He swore the stacks of paperwork sitting on his desk weren’t getting any smaller and probably doing it just to spite him.

The amount of work, and being the workaholic that he was, meant that Q quickly lapsed back into old habits of surviving on tea and eating very little. 

A thing that one particular double-o agent wasn’t about to let continue.

-

Q blinked as he was (rudely) interrupted from some rather intense coding by the sudden and very prominent smell of a rich soup invaded his sense of smell. 

Bond stood at the Quartermaster’s desk, an expression on his face that seemed a mix of exasperation and slight amusement. Before him, on a rare spot of space, sat a steaming bowl of some sort of soup as well as a spoon and some thick slices of a hardy bread for dipping. 

“What is the meaning of this, double-o-seven?” Q asked with a bit of a frown – that soup was too close to his electronics! 

“I’ve been hearing rumors that I should start feeding you again,” the agent replied with a grin. Q was looking a little gaunt, it had to be noted. “Apparently you’re rather bad for not eating if I’m not the one behind the meals.” 

Q continued to regard him with a steely glare and Bond thought he could hear the gears in the genius’s brain turning.

“If you recall, the last time you started feeding me...” the younger male finally said, sounding hesitant and a little unsure. “It ended up with myself in Dropped state because you abruptly quit...”

“I’m aware,” Bond replied, making sure the office door was shut behind him. There wasn’t a reason for the minions or anyone else to overhear this. “I think soon we should talk, Quartermaster. This time I don’t plan to make you Drop. Consider this first meal a declaration of intent, I suppose, if you must. I wasn’t aware of what I was doing before, and I never wanted to cause you harm.” 

“What you mean, declaration of intent. I’m not – “

“Quartermaster, you’re enough as you are. I find myself fond of you. Just think about it, if you must. This isn’t the right time to have a full discussion.”

Q just nodded, for the moment a bit speechless. 

Bond gave the other man a bit of a smile and proceeded to leave the Omega alone in his office to eat the food and contemplate just what the Alpha was offering.

-

“I think I must be losing my mind,” Q commented later to Eve as the other popped down to Q-branch to harass her favorite boffin. “He brought me lunch and said he wanted to court me!” 

Granted, the soup had been rather delicious, and he’d eaten it all, but still!

“He was courting you before, you both are just idiots,” Eve scoffed in reply, laughing a little bit at Q’s befuddled state. “I’m still impressed neither one of you realized what was going on. But this is quite something – our resident Head Boffin and double-o-seven!” 

“I don’t know why he wants to court me. I don’t understand why he took care of me during my pneumonia and then the Drop incident. He could do much better – “ 

“I think he’s made it quite clear whom it is he prefers,” the Alpha woman cut him off, rolling her eyes. “You’d be a might bit blind to not see that he cares about you.” She reached over and patted Q on the head with a grin. “Now I think you should pop off home, courtesy of M. There’s that big meeting tomorrow and he wants his Quartermaster well rested.” 

Q sighed, not anticipating that he would be getting much sleep that evening.


	26. Chapter 26

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Trouble rears it's ugly head...

Q still couldn’t entirely believe that James Bond of all people was so interested in him, despite the history the two shared and the rather obvious fact that he was being courted. 

Everyone aside from himself seemed to find the thing horribly amusing and Q-branch was bubbling over with excitement (and betting pools). Even the threat of more work didn’t seem to dampen their entertainment and happiness that the Quartermaster was going to have a mate (hopefully) by the end of this. They had always thought that their boss was too lonely. 

Despite the fact that 007 was now going back out on missions and was spending days away from MI6 and England, food was still mysteriously appearing and not only Eve, but his own minions were making sure that he was getting breaks in his work – all but strong-arming him home at decent hours or at least making sure he napped on the couch in his office. 

Q assumed that at some point his status was going to become more known amongst the general population of MI6 and he wasn’t too thrilled at that idea. It was obvious that James knew and didn’t mind his status.

The Quartermaster just wasn’t sure how anyone else would take it. M was fine and despite some looks and mutters in Medical from a couple staff, they were fine with it. 

It wouldn’t be a big deal to have an Omega being Quartermaster – times had changed and there were several other Omegas in MI6 that held high ranked positions and had no issues. But people seemed to have a harder time getting over the fact that someone was Defective, and Q hoped that for now, that would stay lesser knowledge. 

-

If only wishes were things that would magically come true in certain situations.

The Quartermaster stood at his work station, doing his best to clamp down on his Omega instincts as he faced a rather irritated-bordering-on-actually-angry Alpha. Said Alpha had Q’s wrist in an iron grip, unwilling to let him go to return to his work. 

The Alpha was a minor agent who had been sent to Q-branch to be kitted out to join in on a multi-agent mission. There were other minor agents in the Branch as well, but they were all Betas and seemed a bit too shell-shocked to offer up much help in the current situation. Either that or Willoughby's rough personality preceded him and they were frankly too scared to step in.

Q supposed he had been a little careless. The agent hadn’t liked his droll manner of speaking nor the fact that he was just getting typical, standard kit – the man clearly thought he should be treated like he was more important (his ego was not a particularly charming trait of his). 

The Quartermaster had simply raised an eyebrow and dismissed the man with the other agents to go about their mission, turning to go back to his own work. 

His arm was grabbed before he could completely make the maneuver and Q clamped down on the Omega-instinct of anxiety as he gave the agent a cool look.

“Agent Willoughby kindly unhand me and go about your mission with the rest of your team. M is expecting you to be departing at this time,” he murmured as one of his minions hit a button to summon security. “Need I remind you of the consequences of defying an order from a direct superior?” 

The Alpha was quietly seething, and Q made several attempts to free his arm from the nearly vice-like grip the other man had his arm in, causing his sleeve to bunch up and free his marker without him realizing. 

“I don’t appreciate being treated like garbage,” Agent Willoughby replied with a growl. “Just because I’m not one of the double-o’s doesn’t mean I’m going to let you treat me like I’m just an average agent. Shouldn’t you, the Quartermaster, be supplying us with the best available for our mission?” 

“I will remind you then, that you are not a double-o agent and therefore you are not qualified for the higher technological gadgets,” Q quipped, looking rather unimpressed. “Not my rules, Agent. Now I’m going to ask you again to unhand me or let security come and assist me – and I can assure you that they will not be assisting in a painless manner.” 

Indeed, security was arriving to assist, and they were clearly not thrilled at the sight of the Quartermaster being manhandled by someone – even if that was an agent. MI6 had stringent rules on respect and what one didn’t do with a member of the higher authority. Manhandling the Quartermaster was certainly not on the list of approved things to do. 

As Willoughby’s gripped loosened just a little bit, the Alpha debating clearly on what he should do now that the cavalry had arrived – Q moved to yank his arm away from the rough hold. 

As his arm pulled back and up, Q’s designation marker went on full display to everyone who had a clear view. 

Willoughby snarled, and his agitation rose quite severely as the rest of those gathered seemed to have been shell-shocked once again. Even the security staff weren't moving forward to escort the angered Alpha away from the leader of Q-branch. 

“There’s a Defective Omega as our Quartermaster?!”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> As of writing this, I've passed my 31st birthday (it was on July 11) and found myself thinking it was time for a bit of drama in all this....can't be all sunshine and roses...


	27. Chapter 27

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Things have gone down....so now what?

The silence that had filled the room after the outburst had felt rather crushing to Q. He’d not wanted his biggest secret to come out in such a manner, yet here it was, out in the open for everyone present. 

The Omega tugged quickly at his sleeve, though it didn’t really matter if his mark was covered or not now. 

It was R who managed to recover from shock the quickest and the Beta moved to herd the leader of Q-branch away from the gazes of everyone and into the quiet solitude of his office.

“You just stay put in here for a little bit, Sir,” R instructed. “Uhm, you can nest o-or check e-mails? I’ll see what I can do about the crowd...”

The second-in-command scurried out to see if he could help in restoring any sort of order. He personally didn’t care that Q was a Defective – he was a brilliant Quartermaster, regardless of his designation. 

“Q-branch, back to work!” he barked out after mentally pepping himself up. “There’s agents out in the field to monitor and plenty of projects you should be working on!” 

He then stalked over to security.

“Please escort Agent Willoughby out of the branch and to a holding cell. I will be informing M of what has transpired as well as our Chief of Staff.” 

Security seemed a smidgen reluctant – still probably in a bit of shock themselves – but escorted the still-snarling Alpha from Q-branch, the rest of Willoughby’s team looking rather unsure of what to do now. 

“M will decide on the mission and if it will continue,” R said with a sigh. “Please stay around MI6 for further orders. I also believe it goes without saying that you need to keep this matter on the down-low until M has been briefed on it.” 

Everyone seemed to be moving at something similar to a snail’s pace and R hoped that the reveal of Q’s secret wasn’t going to cause something like a mini revolt or attempt by someone to usurp Q for the spot of Quartermaster. It seemed unlikely – Q-branch folks were a rather quiet and (seemingly) harmless bunch of folks who adored Q and hopefully still felt that way. 

The Beta watched as the agents and security departed, Willoughby looking none too thrilled but oddly being obedient (though security were packing some rather nice tasers courtesy of Q-branch so perhaps he wasn’t wanting to find out what one felt like). 

Perhaps they would get lucky and this incident wouldn’t turn into something much bigger.

-

Q had managed to hold himself well enough together whilst R escorted him to the privacy of his office. He kept himself together while the Beta fumbled over his words as he sorted out how the handle the tension beyond the office door. 

It was when R left, the door closing behind him, that Q allowed the anxiety to consume him. The Omega began to shake, breath stuttering out from lungs that suddenly didn’t seem to want to properly behave. He stumbled to the back of his office and to his nesting nook, tossing his glasses in the vague direction of their little holding shelf before completely burrowing into the mass of pillows and blankets. 

The lights stayed off and Q hid himself completely in his comfort spot, his mind racing a mile a minute as he wondered what was going to happen now.

-  
When word reached Mallory about what had just gone down in Q-branch, the head of MI6 let out a long-suffering sigh and summoned Tanner to his office to discuss just what to do about it. There was no question that the revelation of Q’s status would more than likely cause a bit of issue with the staff, so they needed to put their heads together to sort out how to fix it. 

Q was certainly the best Quartermaster that MI6 had ever had, and Mallory had admitted long ago to himself that whilst he’d been a bit dubious of someone so young (and an Omega, to boot, regardless of the Defective bit) when he’d first become M, that Q had certainly showed him that he’d been rather rudely prejudiced. 

There was of course the question floating in the breeze – unspoken – of how Bond would react to the news that someone had outed his courting partner. Alphas weren’t really known to take slights against their potential partners very well and considering how dangerous Bond was, they would have to decide rather quickly what to do with Willoughby before the double-o agent returned from his current mission. 

Sure, he had a license to kill, but outright murdering Willoughby for doing what he did would still not be tolerated (though honestly Willoughby was a jerk and probably wouldn’t be horribly missed). 

“Bond is going to be rather angry,” Tanner sighed with a slightly glum look on his face. “Should I have security armed to the teeth for his return?” 

“He’s due back in a week. Let us get all the statements and testimony together tomorrow. Willoughby will be handled within 48 hours. Bond enjoys surprising us, so I’d much prefer to get this done as soon as possible to avoid any further incidents.” 

They were both very hopeful that Bond wouldn’t magically finish his mission at a ridiculously quick speed and be back before the matter with Willoughby was sorted enough to where the double-o agent wouldn’t be able to get to the other Alpha. 

Mallory had the feeling he’d be downing quite a bit of alcohol in the coming days in order to deal with this latest headache.


	28. Chapter 28

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Bond returns from his mission to find that things are a bit worrisome in Q-branch...

What he returned to post-mission was certainly not what James Bond was expecting. He expected to get exasperated sighs from the Quartermaster over his yet again missing tech, perhaps a bit of a lecture and then sent on his way to avoid Medical and Psych. That was the norm, after all. 

He’d conveniently “lost” the earpiece he’d been given to take with him, so he’d had no communications from Q-branch, much less anything that would indicate that something just wasn’t quite right. 

The tension and downright unhappiness radiating from Q-branch was extremely disconcerting and the Alpha wrinkled his nose a bit at the smell of fear and anxiety in the air.

He also didn’t see Q anywhere and that in and of itself was troublesome. 

“Ah, welcome back agent!” R said as he approached James, the Beta’s voice clearly strained with false cheer. “I take it there’s no tech? Also did your earpiece have a malfunction? We lost audio contact shortly after you entered the area for the mission.” 

James just smirked a little, drawing out a roll of the eyes from the second-in-command and a bit of a sigh. 

“Did something happen while I was gone?” the Alpha questioned, just daring the Beta to make up some fanciful lie. 

“Well er, uh....that is to say....” R stammered, looking nervous. “There may have been an incident with an Alpha while you were gone?” 

“And would this be why I don’t see Q around?” 

“The Quartermaster is uh, taking a couple days off?” 

Whilst R was quite good at dealing with the double-o agents normally, today seemed to be an exception. Though considering the atmosphere, there were clearly other things on the Beta’s mind. 

It wasn’t of any surprise to R that James departed from Q-branch rather quickly – more than likely heading in the direction of Q’s home. 

Though to be fair, James probably had the best chance of sorting out Q’s woes and bringing back the snarky young man that everyone adored.

-

M had been the one to give Q a little bit of leave following the incident with Willoughby. He’d all but insisted, having enough witnesses from others to where Q didn’t need to stay around. The Alpha could see that the Omega Quartermaster was rather high strung following the incident. Mallory knew that Q would have preferred to stay put in Q-branch, but his instincts were running a bit too ragged at the moment for him to be of much use. A little time away from the branch would be good for him – he could nest to his heart’s delight in the safety and comfort of his own home with his cats. Home was usually the best place for this type of recovery anyway. 

Q had protested but eventually caved and now he was buried in a nest designed for comfort and soothing – tightly packed and smaller than other nests, sprinkled with lavender scent to help calm.

He absolutely hated that he was having to resort to this – that he had fallen prey to one of the stupid instinctual things about being an Omega. He would have been fine had he not been Defective on top of it all.

Q rather liked being in control as much as he possibly could, and he certainly hadn’t been in control this time. 

He wondered what the state of his branch would be when he returned to it once he’d settled himself enough to fully function properly again. 

His cats were perched on the edges of the nest, keeping dutiful watch over their upset owner. Their presence also acted to soothe his frayed nerves and he was quite appreciative for their company. 

He’d spent most of his unwanted yet rather needed time off in his nest, not really taking care of himself otherwise. 

The Quartermaster barely stirred from his comfort nest as the sounds of someone entering his flat reached his ears. The cats didn’t move from their perch, though their ears did twitch to pick up the sounds of someone shuffling around. Clearly whoever it was they didn’t seem to think was too dangerous.

Since taking care of the Quartermaster, James Bond had clearly learned what it took to get past the security system and enter whenever he wanted. 

It was Bond who appeared in the bedroom door, sighing when he saw the state of things. 

He took stock of the situation and the scent of anxiety – though mostly it was blanketed by calm and lavender from the nest, which mean that Q’s stress was going down – and went back to the kitchen to make Q something to eat and some tea, guessing correctly that the boffin hadn’t had nourishment in a while. 

-

Tea and snacks were greeted with a small whine from the blanket-covered Q, who clearly didn’t want to emerge from his cocoon of safety and comfort, even though the tea smelled heavenly. 

Bond settled himself beside the nest, hoping that his presence wasn’t too much of a problem for Q, considering that the reason Q was here was because of another Alpha. 

Whilst the agent was a bit annoyed and wanted answers quickly about what had occurred, he had the feeling that rushing the one he was courting would backfire. 

For now he could be patient and take care of Q during what was hopefully just a little bump of inconvenience.


	29. Chapter 29

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A bit of talk and comfort...

It had taken a bit of coaxing and the thoughts of fresh tea for Q to unwind himself from the blankets. James didn’t ask him about what had gone on, wanting instead for the younger male to focus on getting some food and drink into his body. He knew that Q could easily be distracted from such things and didn’t want to dissuade him from getting some nourishment. 

Q had to admit that having the spot of food and tea did help to alleviate more of the anxiety and stress that he was feeling. It did help too that James was there – a quiet, solid presence who wasn’t pushing for answers as to the stress of his courting partner. 

Instead the Alpha was simply caring for the Omega calmly. Q was rather thankful that Bond was smart enough to know when to not be overbearing. It was nice. 

“Is Q-branch falling to pieces yet?” the Quartermaster finally asked, settling back into his nest – which unfortunately for James was only big enough for the boffin. “I imagine I’ll be facing a mutiny when I get back.”

James hated the tone of Q’s voice as he spoke – stress laced in the words along with a tinge of defeat and disappointment. 

“R is taking good care of them,” the agent replied after a moment. “I don’t think you’re going to have any problems with mutiny. Everyone seemed more anxious that you were gone as well as a bit scared. I didn’t get the feeling that anyone was angry.” 

“I can’t imagine things will smooth over quickly,” Q sighed. James reached over and ran fingers gently through the dark curls of Q’s hair. “They all found out about me.” 

“Somehow I doubt your status as an Omega is really all that important. Anyone and everyone can see how good a Quartermaster you are.” 

“They found that out and the other bit,” Q replied. “Sure, being an Omega still gets me sneers and a bit of stubbornness from those who are old-fashioned but the Defective part? I’ll be impressed if anyone bothers to listen to me anymore!” 

“Is that what happened? R didn’t give me any details on what had happened other than trouble with an Alpha...” 

Q made a sound that was something between a whine and a barked laugh of discomfort. If only ‘trouble with an Alpha’ really just explained it all away. 

James listened as Q spilled the beans about what had gone down with Willoughby and as the story went on, he found himself having to clamp down rather hard on the instincts to go teach the other Alpha a lesson.

As much fun as it might have been, he knew that Q wouldn’t forgive him for it.

“And really it shouldn’t bother me so much, should it? It was bound to come out sooner or later and I’ve been preparing myself for it for years! I hate that something so utterly stupid has me feeling like _this_!” 

“It’s alright to be upset about it. You weren’t in control of what happened.” 

“I’ve built my life not abiding by anyone else’s rules on what I can and can’t do! I’ve fought all the stereotypes and kept my personal life to myself. Now just because a bullheaded Alpha bullied me in front of my entire department, I’m like this?!” 

It didn’t surprise James that Q was just about beating himself up over how he was reacting – when he was reacting perfectly normally. Well, normally for anyone else who wasn’t Q. 

“It would have been fine if there hasn’t been an audience,” the Quartermaster lamented. “Much easier to handle the less people there are involved...” 

“If they are smart people, they’ll know better than to go running their mouths about this,” James murmured in attempt to reassure Q. He wasn’t entirely sure that those who had witnessed the event were smart enough to keep quiet and knew that word would somehow spread like wildfire around MI6, possibly beyond. He felt mildly sorry for Mallory and the damage control that would have to be done. 

“You know as well as I do that they are brilliant people, but something like this...” Q sighed. He slumped further into his comfort nest and tried to let his worry melt away. 

“I know you have a hard time resting that brain of yours, but at least try to not worry too much? Everyone knows your value far outweighs your status.”

“And it took much too long for me to get somewhere in life where people see past that status,” Q scoffed. He was half-heartedly making grabs at the other, wanting to cuddle yet realizing that the nest wasn’t built for two. “It would have been fine if I was a normal Omega. I wouldn’t be worrying so much. But I’m Defective on top of that and you know that’s still such a huge social issue.” 

The Omega shifted about in his nest and finally let himself just be content enough to be near James whilst the other stroked his hair and offered a calming, protective presence.

“You’re the first person to not be disgusted about me,” Q mumbled. “You learned my deepest secret and you still want me as your mate. You could have anyone you want, and you want me, for some reason I still cannot fathom. I can’t give you offspring, I’m awful at cooking...” 

“I would hope that eventually you’ll see I want you for all of you,” James replied. “Every bit of you. And I can’t be the first person who hasn’t been disgusted.” 

“My parents weren’t...until I became Defective. Before that they were simply a little unhappy I wasn’t an Alpha...being their only child...they loved me before, at least for a little while...” 

Bond didn’t press on this, letting Q tell the story if he wanted to. The agent simply sat there, keeping an eye on his chosen mate and letting Q decide just how much of his past he was willing to share.


	30. Chapter 30

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> James learns about Q's past and how he became Defective.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Please note this chapter talks about medical stuff and emotional neglect of a child, so please proceed with caution if those are sensitive issues to you.

“My parents were good people, just stuck in old-fashioned thinking like the majority of their generation. Mum was a stay-at-home wife and Da was a banker dabbling in politics on the side. We had a lovely house in a quaint area...” 

Q’s voice had softened a little and sounded a little whimsical as the Omega recounted a bit of his past to James.

“Apparently there was nothing problematic with my birth. I was a healthy baby and whilst I was a boy, there had been hopes for the cliched stereotype of the first born being an Alpha boy. They raised me well though and it was a relatively normal childhood. They saw my genius early on and so the only strange thing was that I accelerated faster than others my age through things like school and growth milestones. I think me being a genius alleviated some of their disappointment in me being an Omega. I’m not sure why they didn’t try for another child after me.” 

The Omega shifted in his nest, letting out a little sigh and readjusting his position before continuing on with the story. 

“Generally, an Omega has their first heat at the start of puberty, so around when they become a teenager. I was no exception to this. The only problem was that something else happened...” 

Q paused for a moment at this, biting thoughtfully at his bottom lip as he seemed to be deciding on something. James waited patiently, though it was on the tip of his tongue to tell Q to stop if it was getting too uncomfortable to continue. 

The Omega reached out and grabbed hold of one of Bond’s hands, drawing it to his stomach. The younger male pushed aside the fabric of the awful rusty-brown cardigan he was wearing. He didn’t have a shirt on underneath this one – it was a heavy cardigan made for comfort and a bit worn, just for wearing around the house. 

Bond’s calloused fingers felt the roughness of scars on the otherwise soft skin of Q’s abdomen, the scars trailing down a little below the line of his sweatpants – and Bond fought the urge to trace the scars fully, there would be time later perhaps once they were fully bonded. 

“Have you heard about Omega Fever?” Q asked, hazel eyes glancing up at Bond’s face, as if trying to gauge how the other was feeling about all this information.

“I don’t know all the details but that does sound vaguely familiar,” the agent replied honestly. “You know I don’t have to know everything. If it’s too painful we can stop here.” 

“I want you to know. I trust you to keep the information to yourself,” the Quartermaster assured. “And Omega Fever happens when the body takes a rather extreme reaction to a first heat. I was unfortunate enough for it to happen to me, though cases of it aren’t very common. Whatever it is about the change in the body triggers it into thinking that the reproductive system is something bad, like a virus. It attacks it. It’s called Omega Fever because the Omega experiences an extreme rise in temperature beyond the slight elevation during heat. The sufferer has an elevated heartrate and it can get bad enough to where there’s seizure activity. There’s also nausea and the feeling like knives are ripping you up from the inside.” 

It sounded absolutely ghastly.

“The only cure for it is complete removal of the affected organs. If not done quickly enough the literal rotting of the organs can start damaging others around it. At thirteen I had to undergo a large-scale surgery that took out my uterus, ovaries, part of my stomach, a bit of intestine and both testes. I nearly lost half a kidney but, in the end, it wasn’t damaged enough to where it couldn’t recover. I am completely sterile. The mark of my new Defective status showed up a day after surgery.”

James shifted his position, his hand still resting where Q had placed it – the Omega seeming in no hurry to let go. 

“Mum and Da started to get distant after that. They visited but I think it became just a motion to keep up appearances. Even the medical staff seemed to become a bit more closed off. No malpractice occurred, remarkably, but the whole atmosphere changed. I was pulled from school after the surgery and kept at home.” 

Isolated just because he was Defective, his parents choosing to come up with excuses and reasonings as to why their son had disappeared. He’d been part of a future arranged marriage to the Alpha son of a co-worker of his father, another well-off banking/politics family, and that had been called off. 

“I was homeschooled from that point on and that’s when I began to lose myself in coding and computers. All my classes were online, and the programs were fluid enough to where I could just power through them and take more advanced classes beyond what a peer of my age would usually. I was eighteen when my parents asked me to leave and in the middle of my first PhD. I was thankfully brilliant enough to have fully funded my undergrad through scholarships and I’d started taking on coding jobs as soon as I could. My parents were hardly in the picture at this point and I was more than happy to leave. I can’t say I lived anywhere nice for a while, trying to just keep my head down and get as far as I could in my studies. I knew that the more schooling I had behind me the better things would eventually be.”

James wondered how long Q had spent in such a different life than the one he’d known and grown up in. Certainly, seeing him today, it wouldn’t have crossed his mind that the brilliant Quartermaster of MI6 had faced anything too challenging. 

“It should come to no surprise that coding and computer sciences led me to the world of hacking. It was how MI6 found me, actually. Drunk and miserable after another failed relationship they caught me at a rare time when my defenses were down, and I hadn’t covered my tracks properly. I think M was more amused than anything that a drunken young thing had breeched MI6’s security. When I’d sobered up I found myself with a job offer for Q-branch and a proverbial light at the end of the tunnel.” 

“Only you would hack MI6 whilst drunk and end up with a job,” James murmured with a note of fondness in his voice, leaning over to press a gentle kiss to Q’s hair. “I take it M was one of the few who knew all about you at first?” 

“Yes,” Q answered. “She kept it to herself and made several impressive threats to anyone else that had to know to keep it secret. I think she’d already pinned me for Quartermaster back then, though I didn’t even gain the position of R for a time after my arrival. Then of course I became Q...I know most people think my promotions happened fast but I was a lot different at first – quiet and withdrawn that it actually took a while for the former Q to take notice of me....” 

“And then you so dazzled everyone that they simply forgot you’d been there a while,” James finished with a knowing smile. “If I may ask, do you know what your parents are doing now?” 

“Da died of a heart attack two years after I joined MI6,” Q replied. “Natural causes according to the coroner. Mum went to live with family in the south. They disowned me as soon as I left so I don’t know where the money will go when she dies. I don’t really care though, I’m perfectly fine without it. I only kept tabs on them because I couldn’t detach myself from them completely, despite what they’d done.”

“Understandable,” Bond reassured. “And now you have me and MI6 behind you. A new family, or pack, of sorts.” 

Q smiled at this and closed his eyes, feeling drained after discussing his past. The Omega drifted off to sleep in the comforting presence of his cats, his nest, and his future Alpha-mate. 

The weight of his past felt a little lighter, somehow.


	31. Chapter 31

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Q is back to work and Bond is oddly content to keep watch on him....  
> Naturally people start getting a tad suspicious.

Q’s return to his branch and minions was welcomed with his pseudo-pack of underlings just about swamping him when he walked through the doors. R’s attempts to get some semblance of control happening failed but Q wasn’t that upset – he was happy to see his minions as well. The group was mostly comprised of Omegas, with a few Beta thrown in. There were a few that he’d hand selected but a fair amount remained from the former Quartermaster’s days.

Bond watched in amusement as his chosen mate fended off his well-meaning minions and their heartfelt attempts to hug Q to death. It was clear they had been worried about their Quartermaster whilst he’d been recovering from the incident with Willoughby. 

The minions eventually scattered back to their various posts around the branch, having reassured themselves that Q was alright and that things were going to be getting back to normal now that he was back.

“Nothing major happened while you were gone,” R briefed Q. “The minions did well despite the stress. As you can see no one has left, so you don’t have to worry about hiring any replacements and I do believe our little Q-branch pack is tighter than ever so forgive them if they hover occasionally. Double-o three is coming by for equipment later this morning and double-o eight should be returning this evening as scheduled from their mission. Nothing in the pipes in terms of upcoming missions aside from double-o three.” 

Q hummed thoughtfully at this as he took his place at his central work station and began the process of logging into the system and catching up on e-mails and such. R and Bond shared a glance and James settled into a discreet corner to keep an eye on Q – moreso for his own reassurance that his courtship partner was truly fine back at work. 

The Quartermaster knew that James was watching him – he expected nothing less, to be perfectly honest. It was a nice gesture and Q knew that the agent needed to do this. Bond needed that reassurance that Q was truly alright. If that meant he had a rather lethal shadow during his workday, then so be it.

-

Bond not only kept an eye on Q, he made sure that regular meals and nibbles appeared at just the right time to keep the Omega fed and in top shape. Fresh tea was also making a steady appearance and one had to wonder just how much of Q’s bloodstream was Earl Grey tea. 

The double-o agent was relieved to see that so far everything was seemingly normal. The return of Q had certainly boosted moral and he was sure that Mallory had probably put some new rules in place to prevent an issue like Willoughby again. 

Q was certainly seeming right at home, as if he’d not just been away for a few days. It would be interesting to see how everything was outside of Q-branch, where there wasn’t such a tight pack mentality. Would Q still get the same respect from other branches? 

It remained to be seen how the rest of MI6 would treat Q – though Bond knew that Mallory wouldn’t let anything escalate too far. Q was quite valuable and the best Quartermaster they’d had in quite some time – his predecessor had been good but there had been that lack of system security and newer technology that had kept him from being praised too highly. 

This Q had all but dragged MI6 kicking and screaming into a new technological era and Bond was pretty sure he wasn’t done by any stretch of means – technology was constantly changing and evolving, after all. 

Whilst he did miss the exploding pens that had been an old standard, he had to admit that what Q-branch was doing now under this younger Q was superior. Though, that didn’t mean he was any better at returning equipment in one piece, if at all. 

-

“Still here?” Moneypenny asked with a raised eyebrow. It was a few days following Q’s return and many were starting to get a little confused as to why Bond wasn’t all gung-ho to go back on a mission. Normally the agent spent his downtime doing something destructive, yet here he was spending his time in Q-branch apparently making sure that his courtship partner was alright. 

While Mallory was a bit relieved that Bond wasn’t causing chaos somewhere, the leader of MI6 was beginning to wonder about this oddity. 

“You’re normally chomping at the bit to go out and shoot someone,” M’s assistant continued. “Is this a new way to give Mallory an aneurysm? By behaving long enough to make him wonder if you’re plotting another disaster?” 

Bond made a noncommittal noise that had the female rolling her eyes. 

He did feel oddly content though, just being here and keeping track of Q. Sure shooting bad guys and blowing up things was fun, but he wasn’t feeling the pull to go out and cause problems. He was pretty certain that Alec – next time they managed to get together – would fall over laughing at him. 

James Bond of all people – starting to feel that urge to be domestic?! Sure, it had happened prior and ended in disaster, but the itch was happening again, and this time James was pretty sure there’d be no going back.

But the idea of calming down so that he could take care of Q and formally pair with him wasn’t scary at all to him.

Besides, it seemed to be a new way of making Mallory fret and he had to admit that was rather amusing.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Not overall happy with this chapter but ugh, here it is. Life is a bit nuts right now and my brain is already plotting a pretty nifty 00Q for Nanowrimo in November...anyway I hope I'm more satisfied with the next bit in this story...


	32. Chapter 32

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> As life goes on, James Bond thinks it's time to hang up the role of 007....

The next time Bond went out on a mission, it turned into something a bit unusual for him. Certainly, there was a bit of explaining away several exploded buildings to the local government, the usual threats veiled in debriefings from Mallory and Q tutting at the lack of returned equipment, but it was odd still.

The mission theoretically was supposed to have been a honeypot mission. Seduce the target, get the info, bring said info back to MI6 – standard fare.

The first bit of oddity was that James did not seduce the target. He flirted with her and made her think that she was going to get a nice lay with the rugged Alpha, but it didn’t happen. 

Instead, he found other ways to get her to talk and give away information that was needed to complete the objectives. She wasn’t exactly the brightest target he’d ever had to deal with and plying her with sparkly, fruity drinks turned out to be a fantastic way to get her lips loosened and tongue waggling. She would have a hell of a hangover in the morning and probably not recall much. But aside from making sure she was safely out cold in a hotel room, Bond did nothing else. 

It was perplexing and whilst M was happy that Bond had gotten the intel, he wasn’t entirely sure that this method was much of an improvement. What if Bond had come across someone who didn’t drink alcohol? 

Unless the target was a complete idiot who talked mindlessly then he’d be up a creek if he didn’t want to go the seduction route. 

The oddity most certainly had to do with him actively courting the Quartermaster and Bond found himself subject to a scolding not only from M, but from Q as well.

“I don’t feel right doing it now that I’m courting you!” the agent hissed as he watched the Omega sputter and try to maintain the scolding. “I can get intel other ways. This seduction method is getting old and I’m finding it more tiresome and duller. _I’m_ tired, Q!” 

“And old,” the boffin quipped. “You sound like you’re thinking of retirement, 007.” 

Which generally for you means running off to some remote locale for a while off-radar and making me fret was the unspoken continuation. 

“Maybe I am,” the agent murmured. “I’m not getting younger and each mission I go out on means a lesser chance of me being able to come home and finish courting you, much less going through bonding. I want to stay here, with you. I can train recruits or something else here. Or I can be a househusband. Maybe even rebuild Skyfall. I don’t want to hurt you like I did before because if I died before bonding with you and retiring from the field I don’t want to think what that would do to you.” 

“Don’t stop because of me,” Q stammered quickly, his eyes wide in surprise.

“I’d have to,” Bond replied with a faint smile. “Double-o agents aren’t allowed to be bonded. I’ve done It all, Q. I want to keep courting you and become your mate without worrying if I’ll even be able to make it to that point. I’ve done enough for Queen and Country. My priorities have shifted.” 

Q swallowed and still looked a bit befuddled. It was very hard to imagine James Bond retiring, especially without going out with a bang on one final mission. 

“I suppose you should go speak with Mallory then,” he managed after an awkward moment of silence, voice just a tad squeaky. “I hope this news won’t give him a heart attack.”


	33. Chapter 33

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> James consults with Mallory on his future....in which there are many options. Decisions are made and James makes a request....

Mallory stared in something akin to incredulous disbelief at the agent standing on the other side of his desk.

“My ears must be failing me,” he grumbled with a shake of his head. “Did you actually say you want to _retire_ , double-o-seven?!” 

“Yes,” Bond replied shortly. “It’s no secret that I’m courting the Quartermaster and I intend to bond with him and become his Alpha-mate. A double-o can’t be bonded, Sir. I’d rather do retirement on my terms than be forced out when I hit the age requirement.” 

Mallory steepled his fingers together as he considered the fact that James Bond of all people was retiring. Whilst the agent did have a point that he would have eventually aged out of the program, it was still very surprising that he didn’t want to go to that point.

“In retirement, what do you have planned?” he asked finally. “Did you have any options in mind?” 

“Several,” the soon-to-be-former-agent replied with a slight shrug. “I could stay at home, I want to rebuild Skyfall. Q is always happy to have a weapons tester, or I could help with new recruits, if there is a position available for such.” 

“I suppose Ramsey and Jackson wouldn’t mind a hand,” Mallory mused. “We’ve certainly gotten in a record number of recruits this go-around. I also think I would like you as a consultant for missions for agents and the double-o’s as your experience would be a valuable asset. Did you have a time-table in mind for retirement?” 

“As soon as possible,” James replied. “I don’t want to risk a final mission.” 

Mallory studied the other Alpha contemplatively. It would be interesting to see how James adapted to the retirement life, one that wasn’t made up of constant travel and death. Certainly, the accounting department would weep for joy when they got word that their biggest money-pit wasn’t going to be eating through the Q-branch budget anymore. 

“I will send notice to Tanner to start preparing the paperwork for the transition,” the MI6 leader said finally. “You’ll be notified when the transition is ready to be done and we will move forward from there. For the time being, consider yourself on a leave of sorts. Is there anything else you need, agent?” 

“I have a request,” the blue-eyed Alpha answered. “I’d like to take Q to Skyfall for an extended weekend. He hasn’t seen the property and I think it’s time he went. I want to start planning it’s restoration and I want him to be part of that.” 

Mallory pondered on this request for a moment. Q hadn’t been back all that long from the enforced leave and he wanted the Quartermaster to be around MI6 for a bit more before he went off again.

“If I approve it for after your retirement from the double-o program is official, would that be sufficient? We can work the details out later but keep in mind he has only just returned recently from a leave and I’d rather him be around a little bit more before taking off again.” 

Bond agreed to this request as it would also give him more time to get in contact with Kincade and see about what they would need to do for lodging whilst they were at Skyfall. He hadn’t been back since it’s destruction and the Alpha wanted to show it to his future mate. He wanted Q to help plan it’s revival as it would be a place of respite for the both of them outside of London. 

He could just picture the wide-open spaces being used for recruit training or maybe even some horses. They could have a library big enough to hold all the books Q could dream of and certainly the boffin would get his dream workshop. There was more than enough room at Skyfall. 

Since it’s destruction no one had wanted to buy it and James had decided to keep it when he’d started getting more serious about Q. 

Eventually when they were both totally retired from MI6 he imagined it would be their lovely retirement home. 

Once he was dismissed from Mallory’s office, James went to go seek out his chosen mate. He may not have been able to whisk him away to Skyfall just yet, but he was certain he could at least take the other out to a nice early lunch. 

There was a lot to discuss and having lunch just the two of them would allow for the conversation to start rolling.


	34. Chapter 34

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Post meeting with Mallory, Bond steals Q away from Q-branch to have a chat...

Q-branch was a busy place, as usual, and James had to take a moment to find where Q was – the head boffin wasn’t standing at his usual center console and was instead off to the side looking at a computer screen with one of the techs. The two seemed deep in conversation as Q pointed things out and the tech nodded along, fingers typing rapidly on their keyboard. 

The Alpha strolled over, in no particular rush. He knew that Q rather enjoyed his work and hated interruptions when he was in the middle of something important. It took a moment or two for Q to notice the company and he finished up with the tech before going to James. 

“Even in retirement you’re disrupting my branch?” Q asked with a raised eyebrow and teasing little grin on his face. 

“If this disruption ends with you joining me for lunch, perhaps you’ll not be too upset?” Bond returned playfully. “I wanted to go over what I talked to Mallory about as some of it involves you.”

“Nothing bad, I hope?” the younger male questioned with the tiniest bit of trepidation. 

“No, nothing you need to worry about. Just wanted to run some retirement ideas by you, see what you think. Mallory also survived the encounter without dying of a heart attack.” 

“Will wonders never cease? I suppose I could be persuaded away for lunch, as long as it’s not one of those over-the-top fancy places you frequent.” 

“I promise that lunch will appease your plebian sense of eating establishments. But one day I will have you in something nicer than your cardigans eating at one of those over-the-top fancy places, as you so put it.”  


Q couldn’t help but laugh at this and let Bond lead him from Q-branch, once he made sure R could watch the place whilst he was out. 

-

The two ended up in a small family-owned shop specializing in Greek food. As they ate, they talked through the retirement plans that Bond had discussed with M, Q raising an eyebrow at the thought of his Alpha causing more mayhem in Q-branch with testing, though it would be nice to have another guinea pig that wasn’t a minion. 

“There’s another thing I want to do, and it would involve taking a trip,” Bond started once they’d discussed the retirement job options. 

“And I assume I would be part of this trip?” 

“I promise no airplanes,” Bond replied, with a wry grin. “It would involve a car journey to Scotland. I’d like to show you what’s left of Skyfall. You can meet Kincade and see the grounds with me. I think it’s time to build new memories there, put the ghosts to rest.” 

Q hadn’t expected that James would want anything further to do with Skyfall after everything, yet here he was, wanting to go back and even rebuild. Put perhaps it was also time to do so, to put the ghosts to rest and create something for the two of them. 

“Are you sure that’s what you want?” the Omega asked. Skyfall was a big deal and he didn’t want James to risk his overall well-being if going to that place to pull too many demons to the surface.

“I’m sure,” the Alpha answered. He reached across the table to hold one of Q’s hands, a rare display of affection in public. “Though Mallory says I have to wait until after my retirement is official and you’ve been back at work for a while before I’m allowed to drag you away from MI6 for a long weekend.” 

The Omega smiled and squeezed James’s hand lightly. He’d been curious about Skyfall since the whole incident and as long as James was sure about it, he would be delighted to join the Alpha on the expedition.

“Then I would be honored to go see Skyfall with you. I take it you have already been thinking about what you want to do with it.” 

“I have several ideas,” James answered, casually waving over the server to get the check. They’d spent quite a bit of time away for this lunch break and Q would soon be itching to get back to his branch. That and he wasn’t really wanted to get scolded by Mallory for keeping Q away from work. “And I’m sure you’ll start brainstorming some of your own once you see the property. There’s a lot to work with considering how big the grounds are.” 

“I’ve only seen pictures from the mission regarding Skyfall,” the smaller male hummed thoughtfully as James paid the bill and they took their leave. “The possibilities on what to do with it all seem nearly limitless.”

“My initial ideas have the residence being rebuilt and then either using the grounds for recruit training or taking advantage of the space and having things like horses and such.” 

Q tried to recall what bits he’d seen of the property, though most of the pictures on file from the cleanup crew were of the remains of the house and the chapel, not so much the rest of the grounds. 

“I have the feeling there would be room for both,” the boffin offered after a moment of consideration. “Though I suppose the biggest challenge would be getting good technology and internet out there...” 

James had to laugh at this, not at all surprised that Q’s thoughts were already tracking towards technological matters. He could see the gears starting to turn in Q’s head and the Omega was getting a rather thoughtful look on his face, heading in a direction of mental distraction. 

They were within walking distance to MI6 and Bond let Q have his mind wandering, making sure the Omega didn’t walk into anything or anyone on their trip back, safely depositing his chosen back into the fold of Q-branch.


	35. Chapter 35

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Skyfall, an introduction, and a reveal...

The long road up to Skyfall was scenic once they left the city and was thankfully uneventful for the two occupants of the vehicle. James had acquired another beloved Aston Martin and since this was only a reconnaissance trip, Q hadn’t been able to pack all the technology his heart desired. Much to his chagrin, he could only pack enough to get a good mobile system going for the duration of their visit, not his dream setup for the Skyfall grounds. 

They would have the place to themselves, as it turned out. Kincade had been called away on family matters and would be gone while they were at the property. 

“I know MI6 went in after the Silva incident and cleaned it up,” James explained as they drove along. “But it’s still going to be rather ruined. Kincade said we can stay at his cottage even though he won’t be there, he left a key.” 

There wasn’t really any worry that someone would find the key and break in – Skyfall was a bit remote and trespassing was pretty much nonexistent. 

“How many buildings are there? I know there was the main house, and the chapel...and I suppose Kincade’s house....” 

“That was it,” James replied. “Though there’s certainly room if there are any other structures you want to have built.” 

“Might be better to have a separate building for a workshop,” the head boffin mused. “If it were in the house I would worry about safety for the rest of the building. Plus, a separate building could be made big enough to house cars to work on too. I’ve still got that poor car you ruined during the Skyfall incident to rebuild.” 

“I doubt they would let you take that away from MI6, considering it was MI6 property, especially after all the enhancements done to it.” 

“Considering you want to possibly train recruits out here I bet I can get it approved,” Q scoffed. “If M can approve it as a training ground he can approve me working on MI6 vehicles.” 

There was no doubt in James’s mind that Q would convince M of this. The Quartermaster could be rather stubborn when he put his mind to it and tended to be able to get his way when it came to projects at MI6 that he was rather intent on getting completed. There was always some kind of battle going on between him and the financial departments about breaking budgets. 

Q turned his attention back out the window, watching the scenery as it went past. Unlike his missions that involved car chases and dangerous maneuvers, James Bond was driving like a normal person. It was nice to know that the car they were in wasn’t going to meet a horrible fate like ending up in the bottom of a river or ending up as scorched pieces of scrap metal. 

The genius ended up falling asleep and Bond let him sleep, knowing that Q had been pulling long hours in MI6 lately to make up for being away for this trip. They still had a while to go on this car journey and miles of open road ahead of them.

-

The grounds of Skyfall were as bleak as James remembered from the last time he had stepped foot on the fog-laden land. The fog was lifted at this time of day and as they stood at the gateway with it’s broken statue and stag statue still standing tall and proud, Q looked at the Alpha to see how James was faring, being back here.

The blond man was standing quietly, peering at the Skyfall grounds laid out before them. There was the rubble of the manor, there was the chapel in the distance. There were dark swathes on the ground where fire had scorched. 

Q moved over to the other and made a soft inquiring noise.

“I’m fine,” James murmured. “I’m just taking it all in. I haven’t been here since...” 

There was no need to finish the sentence, Q knew what he was talking about. 

They stood for a few more minutes before getting back in the car and continuing down the road. 

Q looked at the ruins as they went past and continued onward. 

He was a little surprised when they stopped at the chapel. He could see a cottage further down, which he assumed was Kincade’s and he looked to James to see why they had stopped.

The Alpha didn’t say anything as he parked and turned the car off, getting out. Q remained a little confused (with a smidgen of worry) as he followed. 

The little graveyard beside the chapel had remained untouched during the Silva incident but it still looked a little run down and needed some TLC.

They stood outside the fence and Q blinked as James reached down to take his hand. 

“Hello Mum, hello Da,” the Alpha murmured, and the Quartermaster followed his gaze and found that the gaze was focused on one tombstone in particular. Reading the names, Q realized that James had brought him to meet the parents, so to speak.

“I thought I would bring my chosen mate to meet you,” the blond continued. “I’ve been courting him. I didn’t think I would ever fall in love again after Vesper but he’s amazing. We’re going to rebuild Skyfall. It won’t be the sad and gloomy place it turned into. I promise we won’t blow it up this time while dealing with a madman.” 

He tugged lightly at Q’s hand to draw him more forward.

“And this is going to sound extremely silly, but he has yet to tell me his name.” 

Q could help the small laugh that bubbled forth at this. It hadn’t occurred to him that after all these months that he hadn’t given his future mate his real name. It was a rather well-guarded secret and buried under so many layers of encryption and security that only a select few had access to it. 

“My name is Ellis. Ellis Caldwell.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Boy did I spend forever working on a damn name for Q...
> 
> If you ever want to say 'hi' to me off of AO3, I'm on tumblr under the username dallasremy!


	36. Chapter 36

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A short little bit of fluff at Skyfall...

There was something to be said about being one of the rare few worthy enough to know Q’s real name. James had rolled the name around in his mind for a while, the Alpha digesting the information. They had stood a while at the graveyard after Q had revealed his name, the Omega moving to rest his head against James’s shoulder.

Eventually the Alpha guided the two of them back to the car to head to the cottage. The end of the day was gradually approaching, and James’s protective instincts were kicking in a little bit – he’d brought his Omega on a long journey and now he wanted to tuck the other away for the night, give Q food and get the other into bed to rest. Kincade had left the cottage fully stocked with food and James was rather intent on getting a good meal into his Omega and then tucking the boffin into bed to sleep.

The younger male was amused as he was fussed over, wondering where the sudden behavior was coming from. It was a bit adorable. There was a slight chill in the air over the moors so truthfully, he was fine with being herded to the cottage where it was warm. 

While James heated up food for the two of them, Ellis unpacked in the guest room. He was feeling the occasional shiver and pulled out one of his cardigans – a particularly large and warm one that James always made a face at. It was a very eye-catching shade of lime green with thin blue pinstriping around the cuffs. It was one of his favorites.

James took one look at Ellis as the Quartermaster emerged from the guest room and openly winced at the sight of the garish cardigan.

“Someday, I am going to burn that thing,” the Alpha muttered as he plated the heated-up food and took it to the table. “You brought it with you on purpose, didn’t you?” 

The Omega grinned as they tucked into their meal, clearly pleased with himself for bothering James with his fashion sense.

“It’s one of the warmer ones I have,” Q replied. “You know I get cold easily and it is a bit chilly here.” 

“I’m sure you have other warm ones that aren’t so.... obnoxious...” James returned. “Couldn’t you have brought one of them?”

“But this one is one my favorites,” came the slightly smug sounding response. “And it’s designer. Like all the rest of my cardigans.” 

James had to wonder what those designers were thinking. Perhaps they had been drunk or experimenting with interesting substances. The cardigan’s bright color was literally an eye-sore. 

Perhaps one day he could get his mate to wear properly coordinate outfits. At least more than once in a while. It was oddly endearing yet still baffling and slightly embarrassing, especially when one of those garish cardigans with nearly equally garish trousers were paired together. 

By the end of dinner, the Omega was looking a bit weary and James had no problems herding him off to bed while he came back to clean up from dinner. It had been a long day and they had more things planned for tomorrow – namely a lot of walking around the grounds to see the entirety of the property to see the ruins of the manor and start plotting what to do on the moors. 

Returning to the guestroom once the dishes were sorted out, James couldn’t help the smile that spread over his face.

Having changed into pajamas and put his glasses aside, the younger male was sprawled out on the bed, having fallen asleep as soon as his head had hit the pillow. He hadn’t even bothered to get under the covers.

James shook his head slightly in fondness, changing into his own set of pajamas before maneuvering Ellis beneath the covers along with himself. 

Flipping the bedside lamp off, the Alpha settled down and soon followed his chosen Omega into slumber.


	37. Chapter 37

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Q is not much of a morning person, James finds it adorable...

Waking up next to Q was always nice. The Omega tended to latch onto James while they slept, his smaller frame always happy to leech warmth from the Alpha. James didn’t mind that Q also seemed to steal the majority of the covers – he didn’t get cold easily, so it wasn’t a bother. It was pretty amusing to wake up to a blanket-caterpillar latched onto him.

James also liked to watch Q sleeping. All the stress was gone from the younger male’s face and he definitely didn’t look his age without his glasses. 

The sun was coming in gently through the window panes and highlighting Q’s skin in a soft glow. While normally a workaholic who got little sleep when he was absorbed with a new invention or helping an agent in a mission, when he didn’t have to be anywhere the Quartermaster would shut off all alarms and let his body rest.

The days he got to this were rather rare, so this vacation was quite welcome. Bond didn’t like the faint dark circles that indicated his Omega wasn’t getting enough sleep and hoped that being able to sleep as much as he wanted while here at Skyfall would help. 

The boffin didn’t stir as Bond extracted himself from the octopus-grip of his chosen mate to go put together some breakfast – and the necessary morning tea that Q would certainly demand before doing anything else. 

-

Breakfast in bed, complete with a perfect cup of tea was a nice thing to wake up to. The Omega whined a little as James coaxed him to wake up and emerge from his blanket cocoon. He was so nice and warm! But something smelled rather good and he could smell his favorite tea. 

“Ellis? Time to wake up, love...” 

James sounded much too awake. 

“I have breakfast for you complete with a big mug of tea.”

The boffin didn’t emerge fully at first, instead putting out a hand and making grabby motions in the general direction he thought James was in.

“You’ll have to come out if you want your tea,” James stated, a bit of a laugh to his voice as he watched the other’s morning struggle. “I let you sleep half the morning away so indulge me?” 

Q made an unhappy noise but slowly revealed himself from the blankets, blearily looking in James’s direction, the other man looking quite fuzzy without the help of his glasses. Q’s hair was a wild mess and he reached out again, whining and making grabby hands for the mug of tea that James held.

A fond smile graced James’s face as he handed over the tea, making sure the Omega had a good grip on it before leaving him to enjoy his favorite drink. The Alpha settled beside the other on the bed, carefully balancing the breakfast tray on his lap. 

Q leaned against James a little as he sipped at his tea, enjoying the warmth spreading through his body from the hot beverage. He was still fighting off the dredges of a good night’s sleep and the warmth of his tea, the bed and the Alpha wasn’t helping matters. 

James fed Q bits of breakfast between sips of tea, the Alpha just about visibly preening at being able to take care of his chosen mate like this. 

It took most of the breakfast and three cups of tea before Q was feeling anything close to resembling being awake.

“What are we doing today?” Q asked through a yawn, watching James clear away the breakfast tray from the bed and leave to take it back to the kitchen. He debated for a moment before following, one of the blankets from the bed wrapped around him. 

“I want to get a closer look at the remains of the house,” James replied as he washed up the dishes. “The team from MI6 was good at cleaning up, but aside from making sure all the fires were out they didn’t touch the manor. I want to see what all is left, though I doubt anything solid enough remains to be rebuilt on.” 

“I vaguely remember the reports mentioning something about a tunnel beneath the house? Did you want to save the tunnel, or will you have that filled in?” 

“I don’t know,” Bond answered with a shake of his head. “I would think structurally it would be better to fill it in but I’m not sure.” 

“If shored up properly it should be fine,” Q shrugged. “If the manor stood for a long time with the old tunnel I imagine the integrity with one is fine.” 

James hummed thoughtfully at this. He wasn’t sure if he wanted there to be a tunnel. It had been an interesting place to explore when he was younger and then it had turned into a place of sadness after his parents passed. He’d hidden in there as much as he could following their death, not wanting to face the world for a while. 

He had time to figure out what to do though, with the remains of the manor and the entire grounds. Q would certainly get to have input, considering he was James’s chosen. But there were still plenty of decisions that the Alpha knew he would need to make on his own. 

The two eventually went back to the guest room and changed into clothes more fitted to exploring the lands of Skyfall and James made sure that Q was properly attired for the slight chill in the air and the rugged terrain. 

They set off out of the cottage, the fog still in the process of lifting over the moors. Occasionally a bird flew by as they walked, twittering a late-morning song. Despite the fog, the morning felt peaceful and neither of them felt like they had to keep their guard up, unlike the last time that James had set foot here.

Q wasn’t generally one for long hikes but being here with James made the long walking tolerable and his curiosity about getting a closer look at the ruined Skyfall manor helped as well. It was actually nice.

Then one booted foot found a small dip in the ground and Q stumbled with a small yelp.


	38. Chapter 38

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A simple stumble has James feeling a tad protective.

Q expected that his upcoming spectacular faceplant into the ground would leave a lovely imprint on his face and hopefully no broken bones. 

He wasn’t expecting (though perhaps he should have, considering who he was with) that a pair of strong arms would lock around him and prevent him from meeting the moor with his face. 

His ankle throbbed slightly as he was kept upright by James, though it didn’t bother him horribly to put weight on the traitor foot. 

“Careful,” James murmured as he held Q upright until the other regained his balance. “I’m sorry, I should have told you how uneven it is out here.” 

Q could pick up the slightest tinge of worry and perhaps guilt in the Alpha’s voice – it wasn’t an unusual thing, Alphas tended to be rather overprotective of their chosen Omegas and especially when the relationship was developing, could feel guilty about just about anything they couldn’t protect their Omega from. This apparently included natural holes in the ground that were tripping hazards.

Shifting in James’s grip, Q turned so that he could reassuringly nuzzle the other. He made a soft noise meant to be reassuring and felt the tiny bit of tension leak out of the other’s body as a result.

“It’s not even sprained, I don’t think,” the boffin assured. “I’ve got full weight on it and it’s fine. I’m just a tad clumsy sometimes. We can keep going and look at the ruins.” 

They continued on, though James kept a bit of a grip on Q and the Omega couldn’t help but notice he was being subtly steered away from any further holes in the ground. It was a bit adorable how protective James was due to just a simple bit of clumsiness.

The house was certainly in ruins. There wasn’t much of the wood of the manor left at all, the vast majority burnt to ash during the Silva incident. Bits of stone remained, scorched and broken in varying size heaps that faintly resembled a foundation pattern. 

The entrance to the tunnel was covered up by rubble and just from the initial look, neither could tell the condition of the tunnel itself. That would have to be explored at a later time, once the rubble was cleared away and it was safe to do so.

“The manor was rather big, wasn’t it?” Q asked as they walked around the remains. “Did you want the new home to be similar in size? Clearly you could go bigger if you wanted, there’s more than enough room.”  


James thought back to how large the home had felt as a child. Having had no siblings and few visits from outsiders, aside from Kincade, the manor had felt rather empty. If it was just going to be Q and himself, would they really need such a large place? 

“My first thought would be that no, it could be smaller,” the Alpha mused. “But I would want to have ample guest quarters for friends not to mention trainees...I will have to see if there’s any public records or if Kincade has anything resembling blueprints of the original building. I must admit I don’t remember how it was all set up before, despite spending years as a child here.” 

“Do you think it needs to go bigger?” 

“I don’t think so. There was a lot of large spaces in the old house and I’d rather redesign it to be functional. A few rooms could still be on a large scale since we’d be having company sometimes, but I do remember from a child those rooms being hard to keep warm in winter due to the size. I would think more smaller spaces might be easier to heat with a central system instead of with fireplaces?” 

“It would be easier,” Q agreed. “Though a couple rooms might be nice to have fireplaces in. I think my biggest issue is going to be wiring up electricity and internet, honestly. We are rather remote, and we’d have to build a housing structure for the systems with generators for backup. Plus, we have to sort out water. I’d want to see old schematics as well if we can find them to figure out how that was done. I suspect a sort of well system which we’d have to use again – too remote for something more modern, I imagine.”

“I remember everything creaked,” James said with a slight perturbed expression. “Especially in winter when everything took a while to heat up. I think we used water from one of the lakes. I remember Mum sometimes wishing for a better system that didn’t need so much upkeep.” 

“I could design something a bit more modern that would combine the old-style system with a few of my own upgrades. At least that would help with any worry of things needing to warm up, I can probably figure out how to replicate a way to have the type of water you need on demand, though if it’s a lake the filtration system will have to be a bit complicated too...” 

“Are you sure you want to do all this work? I’m the one with more time on my hands and I suppose M will have my head if I take you away from Q-branch for too long.” 

“As if I would let anyone else do the work,” Q scoffed. “Then I’d be spending all my free time fixing it to my standards!” 

“As long as you don’t overwhelm yourself. If you start taking on too much, then I will be stepping in.” 

Q expected James to do no less. The Alpha had become rather good at keeping the Omega (for the most part) from taking too much onto his shoulders. 

“I will do my best,” Q replied, making no promises. James didn’t expect him to make one regarding this, as they both knew that Q could get rather wrapped up in his work.

This was close enough to a promise for both of them.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> We're approaching the end of this one, folks. Hope you've enjoyed the ride so far...


	39. Chapter 39

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The future has been decided.

By the end of the trip to Skyfall, James and Q had managed to piece together a pretty solid plan. They would rebuild the manor, adding on out buildings for Q’s dream workshop as well as housing for the electrical/internet system that Q would have to invent. They would have plenty of bedrooms to house guests or agent trainees. 

The church was going to be refurbished. The little graveyard outside would get a new fence and be cleaned up a little – though both James and Q wanted to make sure those at rest there went as undisturbed as possible. 

The statues at the entrance to the property would be fixed and the road leading to the manor repaved. 

Even with this idea, the grounds were expansive, and they had space to add more, should they ever feel like it. 

“Are you happy with this, James?” Q asked as they finished dinner in the cottage, a notebook sitting on the table where they had been scribbling down all their ideas over the course of the short trip. “It doesn’t seem like much for such a large area, but I’m sure it will keep us busy.” 

“Me busy, mostly,” James replied. “You still have Q-branch to run.” He laughed softly at the pout this drew from the Omega, Q clearly unhappy about this fact. “You wouldn’t enjoy most of it anyway, especially with there not really being internet out here until you build it.” 

“And knowing our luck when I want to come work on something, I’ll be stuck helping an agent through a mission that’s gone to hell,” Q grumbled. 

“Poor Quartermaster,” James hummed, though he was looking rather amused. “You don’t think R would be up to taking some of that weight?” 

“I like being there, you know that. R is a wonderful second-in-command and yes, he’s taken over before, but I would prefer him to not. In fact, I’m a bit concerned what I’ll come back to when we get home, the minions were being a bit too giggly before we left and I’m certain they weren’t experimenting with strange gases again. R tends to be a bit more of a pushover when the minions get testy enough.”

James wasn’t entirely sure he wanted to know what that meant. Q-branch minions were a different kind of crazy. 

The two cleaned up from their meal and set about doing a bit of packing up for the drive home the next morning. 

“It’s a shame Kincade wasn’t able to be here,” James commented idly. “But I suppose babies like to appear when they please.”

“How many grandchildren does he have?” Q asked, curious. “And it’s good to keep family as an important part of your life.” 

“I think this was the fourth grandchild,” the Alpha answered after thinking for a moment. “He’s quite pleased that his family is getting so big.” 

“And you’re certain you’re fine with us not having children?” 

James turned to the Omega to see Q looking worried. Setting down the dish he’d been carrying, Bond pulled Q into a hug and ran his fingers through the dark curls in a soothing motion. 

“I told you that children aren’t something I want,” he murmured. “I just need you in my life and I have that. Kincade wanted a big family and he’s getting that, which is nice for him. I can be happy for him without feeling that I’m missing out on anything, Ellis. You are enough and more than I deserve as a life-mate.” 

He held the smaller male for a short bit, stroking Q’s hair and nuzzling him until they both felt reassured. 

The rest of the evening went by with an improved atmosphere and they slept that night with Q hogging the blankets again whilst clinging to James like an octopus.

It was again a struggle the following morning to get the boffin awake enough to eat some breakfast, drink copious amounts of tea and prepare to go back to London. 

They stood outside the packed car, taking in one last look at the grounds of Skyfall that would soon start to be transformed. 

James turned to the Omega, getting Q’s attention before pulling something from a pocket. 

“I know these days that marriage isn’t much a thing that happens, since once a pair bond, that’s it, but I tend to be a fan of certain traditions.” 

The Alpha held out his hand to Q, showing off the ring that was nestled in his palm.

“This was one of the things Kincade held onto for me, when we were still trying to sell Skyfall, and everything wasn’t in ruins. I’m not sure the full history, but I remember that this one at least has been passed down on my Da’s side for quite a while.” 

He dropped down to one knee in front of the younger man, who was looking just a tad flabbergasted.

“So, I think this is a good time to give this to you. I am done courting, Ellis. You’re everything I could ever want in a partner and I want to spend all of my days with you. I want to have a bonding ceremony to show everyone the perfect Omega I’ve chosen to bond with. Ellis Caldwell, will you wear this ring and accept this old, battle-worn Alpha as your mate?” 

Q had certainly not been expecting something like this to happen before they left Skyfall to return home. He didn’t think that James would turn to such an old and no-longer-really-used tradition in order to ask him such an important question. 

There was of course only one answer that he could reply with. After everything, there was only one answer that made the most sense and made him overwhelmingly happy to say:

“Yes!”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you all for joining me on this ride. The final chapter is next and with it this story will be completed.


	40. Chapter 40

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The end, yet also the beginning.

One year later...

-

Skyfall looked nothing like the ruin it had been merely a year ago. The newly rebuilt manor stood proud and whole again, the road leading too it paved and the statues at the entrance standing guard once more. The moor grass was lush and green and, in the mornings, sparkled with fresh dew.

The chapel had been carefully fixed up, with great care taken to not disturb the graveyard next to it. The graves too, had gotten a bit of care. The fence around the small yard was new and everything had been carefully tidied up. 

On this day, the grounds were host to a small, yet poignant gathering. Cars were parked before the manor and a large tent had been constructed beside the house. Fairy lights twinkled inside and were wrapped around the poles holding the tent up. Q had of course designed the lights just for this event, designing small yet long-lived battery packs to hook to the strands of lights to keep them going. 

Tables were inside the tent, decorated with spring flowers and a large buffet table held food and a several-tiered cake. 

Despite weddings not being much of a thing, James Bond and Ellis Caldwell (soon to be Ellis Bond) had decided to add wedding elements to their bonding ceremony. 

They had a small smattering of guests to celebrate with them. M, Tanner, Eve and R as well as Bond’s best friend Alec. Kincade was there as well and he was very proud of James for finding someone so wonderful for a life-mate. 

There wasn’t much around Skyfall, but there was a small town somewhat nearby where the folk knew both Kincade and had come to know James. One of the locals would be officiating the ceremony, giving it a proper formal feeling. 

Bonding ceremonies weren’t common much either, these days. Usually a newly bonded couple would just go to the nearest registrar and signing documents making it all legal and official in that regard. 

Bond, being a man who liked tradition and Q, who had become very curious of some of the older ways, had decided to do it this way, the way they wanted it to be. 

They even had picked out rings for each other, though Q would always treasure the first ring that James had given him when he’d proposed. 

Dressed sharply in tuxedos, James’s with tails, the two stood in front of the officiant, the small group of friends standing in a sort of semi-circle around them, everyone dressed up as if they were going to a fancy gala. 

“James Bond and Ellis Caldwell, you have chosen to undertake the lifelong commitment of bonding. As Alpha and Omega. It is a commitment of love, respect and understanding. It is the decision to walk together in life, to support one another through all the trials of life and to walk the road together, wherever it may lead. You have chosen rings as your representation of your joining, a sign to all that you belong to one another. May you live life fully, love strongly and continue to grow and learn together.” 

Q couldn’t help the slight tremble in his hands as he slid the ring home on Bond’s finger, fingers brushing gently over the metal. James’s hands weren’t steady either and neither could stop smiling at the rings sitting perfectly in place. 

“I present to those gathered here, bonded pair James and Ellis Bond.” 

The small gathering of friends cheered and tossed up handfuls of confetti, decorating the pair in colored bits of paper – the cheering quickly turning to more obnoxious noises from Alec as James proceeded to dip his Omega whilst giving him a spectacularly mind-blowing kiss. 

The two would always look back on this day with the utmost of happy thoughts and memories. They would have pictures too of the party after the ceremony – where Q and James happily shoved cake in each other’s faces and James fed Q all throughout dinner, preening with delight the entire time. 

They would share a first dance where they became lost to the world, where it became just the two of them in that moment, waltzing together. 

A couple people would have a bit too much to drink and eventually all would end up crashed out in various guest rooms in the Skyfall manor – sleeping off drunken stupors and the revelry of the day. 

James and Q would spend their first night as an official bonded pair much the same way as every other night – with Q stealing the blankets and wrapping himself like an octopus around his Alpha. The morning would dawn with James bringing Q tea and breakfast in bed, the boffin still very much not a morning person. 

The two would eventually join their slow-waking friends, some in various stages of hangover. Alec would tease and eventually the two would be left alone to enjoy a honeymoon together, taking in the rebuilt splendor of Skyfall and the tranquility it offered. 

It was a home as they had created it, like everything in their relationship, perfect and just right for the two of them. 

James and Ellis Bond were just beginning their journey together.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you, once again for all the support on this. This has without a doubt been the most welcoming and kindest fandom I have been a part of (I am an old hat and have been in many a fandom)...This is by no means the last thing I will write for 00Q! My Nanowrimo novel this year shall be a giant OOQ-fest and once Nano is over I will happily be sharing it here on AO3! Feel free to come visit me on Tumblr where I'm dallasremy whilst you wait! And again, thank you, thank you, thank you.


End file.
